THE TECHNICAL ARTS
AND SCIENCES
OF THE ANCIENTS
BY .
ALBERT NEUBURGER
TRANSLATED BY
HENRY L. BROSE
M.A., D.Phil.(Oxon.), RInst.P.
WITH 676 ILLUSTRATIONS
METHUEN & GO. LTD.
36 ESSEX STREET W.C.
LONDON
Originally published in German under the title
“Die Technik des Aliertums”
This Translation first published in 1^30
PRIKTED IN GREAT BRITAIN
TRANSLATOR’S PREFACE
T he author of the present work, Dr. Albert Neubiirger, was
occupied for over twenty years in collecting and sifting the
facts which he considered necessary for an adequate survey
of the manifold technical activities of the ancients. His lively interest
in antiquity and his scientific training qualified him admirably for this
exacting and painstaking task. The welcome with which the book
was received in its original German edition is a sufficient indication of
the success which has rewarded his labours.
The translator has endeavoured to interpret the sense of the German
original as closely as possible without sacrificing freedom of expression.
Many of the technical terms that occur have not yet found their way
into German-English dictionaries, and so the help of colleagues has
been enlisted, wherever possible, to find the nearest equivalents. It
is hoped that there will be but few errors in this respect.
It has not been considered necessary to follow the German edition
by adding at the end of each section a detailed list of the literature dealing
with the particular subject under consideration, as most of these refer-
ences are to German books or periodicals. Those readers who wish to
pursue the facts to their sources are referred to the German edition,
which contains a very extensive bibliography.
The title of the German original is Die Technik des AUertums. In
view of the wide range of subjects under i;eview -it seemed impossible
to express this in English otherwise than by T/ie Technical Arts and
Sciences of the Ancients. Our word ‘ science ’ seems less open to
objection, as applied to the present volume; than the German word
' Wissenschaft,' which etymologically signifies 'formed' knowledge
{gestaltetes Wissen) ; the knowledge of the ancients consisted largely
of disconnected facts which had not been amalgamated by theory.
The high standard reached by the ancients in at least some technical
branches is shown strikingly by the fact that only a short while ago it
was admitted at a meeting of the Iron and Steel Institute at Birmingham
that in spite of modern scientific progress the metal of the i6oo-year-
'?)ld pillar at Delhi (Kutub) was still superior to anything we could produce
to-day; it was freer from inclusions even than Swedish charcoal iron.
The recent discovery of elastic glass by two Viennese professors was
regarded as a triumph of research, yet a similar substance seems to have
been known many centuries ago. But although isolated facts of this
kind come to the notice of the scientist or layman from time to time,
few people realize the immense field that has been explored by the
* Vi TECHNICAL arts" AND SCIENCES OF THE ANCIENTS ‘1
ancients. Books dealing with special subjects have appeared at inter- |
vals, for example Manufacturing Arts in Ancient Times (with special
reference to Bible History) by James Napier (Paisley, 1879), but no . -
complete treatise has appeared. It is therefore felt that the present
volume will supply a much-felt want and will also be of use to those
who are no longer compelled or have no longer the opportunity to study i ‘
the ancient classical languages as a compulsory subject. It will be a i
positive gain if the achievements recorded in these pages wiU lead to a j
true appreciation of the genius of the ancients which no training in the !
elements of Latin and Greek seems to have been able to inculcate. |
The work of Vitruvius shows what an amount of varied knowledge, j
ingeniously applied, was at the command of students of the mechanical j
artsin his day (the beginning of the Christian era). His style of writing i
is often obscure and has caused translators and commentators great i
difficulty. His ten books on architecture {De Architectura Libri Decern) \
deal with many subjects and are dedicated to the Emperor Augustus, j
whose sister Octavia procured for him a pension in his old age. These |
books were lost for a long time, but came to light again at St. Gall in
the fifteenth century. During the time of the revival of classical learning
Vitruvius' treatise was regarded as the most valuable work of reference
for architects ; through Michael Angelo and others his ideas ultimately 'f
exerted an influence on the architecture of most European countries.
A great drawback to forming a true estimate of the actual knowledge
acquired by the ancients is that in all probability the most important
of the technical writers of antiquity have not come down to us at all. r
Ernst Mach (in the introduction to his Mechanik) quotes a passage from ,
Vitruvius (v, 3, 6) in which he indicates in rough outline and by analogy
a wave-theory of sound. This leads Mach to suggest that these remarks 4
of Vitruvius are rather those of a popular writer on a subject which
has perhaps been more carefully expounded in works now no longer J
in existence, and he points out that if the popular writings of the present .
day were the only source of information of our activities to generations ,1
a thousand years hence, our state of knowledge would present an aspect 1
no less strange and misleading. Other writers of less technical ability
than Vitruvius have given far more inaccurate and uncritical reports
of discoveries. The chief and most notorious offender in this respect
is Pliny, who, moreover, was not above pirating the writings of others.
There are actually passages in Pliny that tally almost word for word
with Vitruvius, but nowhere is an acknowledgment of the source to be ' I
found. Fanciful reports of discoveries in those days are, as Mach com-
ments, no worse than the picturesque tales of Newton’s apple or Watts’
■..'■kettle. ■ .
Up till recently there was a popular delusion that the Greeks, in
particular, had neglected experiment entirely. Evidence to the contrary '
is given by Pythagoras’ use of the sonometer with its movable bridge
for detecting the ratio of the lengths of similar vibrating strings when
in harmony ; also by Ptolemy’s systematic experiments on the refraction
^ of light and Aristotle’s observations bearing on the explanation of the
TRANSLATOR’S PREFACE vii
rainbow. The real lack in ancient technical knowledge, apart from
astronomy, appears to have been the absence of mathematical treat-
ment. Calculation alone could lead to systematic development and
could weave the isolated facts into the fabric of a science. Indeed,
recent advances in physics seem to be bringing us back from the opposite
direction, as it were, to a form of the ancient theory, due chiefly to
Pythagoras, that number is the essence of reality. The German physicist,
Planck, defines real quantities as only those which are measurable ; this
same definition is at the basis of Einstein’s theory of relativity. The most
recent theory of the atom (founded on Schrodinger’s wave-mechanics)
seems to push this abstraction even a stage further.
Unless otherwise stated the translations of the passages quoted from
Vitruvius are from the English edition by Morgan (Harvard University
Press, 1914). I am indebted to Professor F. S. Granger, Vice-Principal
of University College, Nottingham, for many useful suggestions. A
new translation of Vitruvius’ treatise on architecture is being prepared
by Professor Granger for the Loeb Classical Library, to other volumes
of which frequent acknowledgments are made in the present book.
I also wish to express my thanks to one of my colleagues, Dr. W.
Schweizer, for assisting me in finding the equivalents of many technical
terms and for collaborating in the translation of the second and third
quarters of this book.
HENRY L. BROSE.
July, 1929.
University College,
Nottingham.
FROM THE AUTHOR’S PREFACE
A lthough the study of antiquity has been pursued with great
intensity and devotion since the time of the Renaissance and
the great Humanists, one of its most important branches, the
technical arts and sciences, has received rather scant attention. It is
only fairly recently that the beginnings of this field of human activity
have been studied with increasing care. This has caused a world of
wonders in the truest sense of the word to be revealed to us and has
given us deep glimpses of the advanced knowledge and extraordinary
technique of bygone peoples.
The reason for this long delay in investigating and appreciating
their achievements in this direction was due to diverse circumstances.
When the great Humanists of the fifteenth century directed the attention
of people anew to antiquity, and in particular to that epoch of time
which is nowadays briefly called ' classical antiquity it was first of all
the beauty of language and the beauty of works of art which gripped
the imagination. The glimpses of technical ability which presented
themselves in passing exerted no attraction. The ‘ technical age ’ had
not yet dawned, the mental sciences alone held sway. But even
at that time it was the great technical inventors of the Renaissance
Period who first became aware of the remarkable technical accomplish-
ments olthe ancients and who eagerly studied them and sought to apply
them to their own purposes. In particular, architects found many
suggestions in the books of Vitruvius. Werner ^ has tried to prove
that the technical science of Leonardo da Vinci, the greatest inventor
of the Renaissance, was founded on an exhaustive study of the works
of learned Arabian and other ancient writers.
But there was another circumstance that contributed to the delay
in making ancient technical science generally accessible. Those who
were occupied with this task were often insufficiently versed in languages
or had no opportunity of penetrating deeply into the philological side
of ancient technical expressions. The philologists, on the other hand,
who possessed this equipment, had no adequate technical training for
treating this great field of knowledge competently. And so the meanings
of many technical expressions (for example ‘ aes,’ ‘ nitrum,' ‘ byssos ')
have only recently been made fully clear. There are, of course, excep-
tions among these two groups of researchers ; we need refer only to
scientists like Diergart, and to philologists like Blumner and Reber, but
^ Werner, Zur Physik da Vincis. Berlin.
■ .ix"--'.
X TFXHNICAL ARTS AND SCIENCES OF THE ANCIENTS
their meritorious labours were far from sufficient to cover the whole
field thoroughly.
Only in the last few years, owing to the combined efforts of many scholars
and to the fact that scientists had at last acquired a taste for historical
research in their subjects, has it become possible to gain a comprehensive
and detailed survey of what had been achieved by the ancients in this
field. But the works of these writers are scattered far and wide through
journals and have been published at different times. Whereas one
investigator, for example Le Chateher, has chiefly occupied himself
with ancient ceramic art, another, Kassner, has dealt with ancient inks,
whereas a third, Berger, has specialized in ancient painting in wax, and
so forth. This circumstance alone made it appear desirable to gather
together these scattered facts so that as wide a perspective as possible
would be obtained of the whole range of ancient technical knowledge.
The author hopes that he may have been successful in building up
out of his own reading and experience a work which will serve as a
foundation for further investigations on the part of scholars and scientists.
At the same time he trusts that it will inspire in the general reader a
thirst for further knowledge of these great achievements, characterized
by such beauty in their details. ...
In general we take as the beginning of antiquity a time not definitely
specified, which differs for different peoples and denotes roughly the
time at which these peoples appear in history up to about the last part
of the fifth century a.d., when the downfall of the Western Roman Empire
was being accompanied by great changes of religion and civilization ;
this period was characterized chiefly by the founding of Christian States
and the stormy events due to the migration of races. This rough defini-
tion of antiquity applies equally well to the age of technical discovery
among the ancients. ...
The author expresses his warm thanks to all those who either as
individuals, whether scientists or archaeologists, or as committees of
museums, or as owners of private collections lent their kind assistance
during the long years when the present work was being prepared.
ALBERT NEUBURGER.
Berlin.
CONTENTS
BOOKS USED xxvi'i
INTRODUCTION xxix
MINING I
METALS AND THEIR EXTRACTION (METALLURGY) . . . 8
Gold , ... 8
Silver . ii
Copper 13
Tin . 14
Bronze . . . . 13
Zinc 18
Lead . . . . . . . . . . . .18
Iron 20
Other Metals . . . 27
METAL-WORKING . . . . . . . . . . 29
Metal Leaf and Embossing . . . . . . . . 29
Wires . . . . . . . . . . . * 37
Stamping . . . . . . . . . . ■ 39
Coining, Chasing and Engraving . . . . . . . 40
Riveting, Soldering, Welding, Cementing . . , . . 45
Forging Metals. The Smithy . 47
Casting IN Metal . . . . . . . . . . 54
Chemical Treatment and Colouring of Metals . . . . 61
Special Methods of Working Metals 64
WOOD-WORKING . . 98
• Procuring Wood. Felling Trees . , . , . . 98
The Types of Wood ......... 70
Carpenters’ Tools and Carpentry 71
PREPARATION AND TREATMENT OF LEATHER .... 77
Tanning . . . 77
The Uses of Leather , , 79
xi
xii TECHNICAL ARTS AND SCIENCES OF THE ANCIENTS
AGRICULTURE . . . • ■ • . . • ■ • S2
Agricultural Implements . . • • • ■ ■ .82
The Method of Ploughing . . • • • ■ ■ -85
The Treatment of Corn . . • ■ • • ■ •
FERMENTATION ^9
The Bakery , . . . • • ■ • • • • 8g
Milling Corn ... . . • • ■ • • Sg
Baking Bread . . . ■ • ■ • • • • 95
Brewing Beer . . ... . ■ • - • 100
The Preparation of Wine (Viticulture) . . . . .105
THE PRODUCTION AND USES OF OILS. FATS, SOAPS AND PERFUMES no
The Extraction of Oils and Fats ... . . .110
The Uses of Oils . . . . . • • ■ ■ •
REFRIGERATING AND PRESERVING . . . • • • 122
Methods of Preserving . . . . , . . 124
Mummies . . .... . . ... ■ 125
CERAMIC ARTS . . . . . . . . . . 130
The Development of Ceramic Art . . . . . . 130
Ceramic Art among the Individual Peoples of Antiquity . . 133
The Babylonians and Assyrians — The Egyptians — The Greeks — ^The
Romans — ^The Teutons.
GLASS ■ c . .■ ; ■ . .■ ■ . 152
The Origin of Glass . . . . . . . . . 152
Egyptian Glass Manufacture . ... . . . 153
Phoenicians . . . . . . ..... 157
Greeks . . . ... . . . . . 157
The Glass-work of the Romans . ... . . 158
Artificial Stones . . . . . . . . . . 164
SPINNING AND WEAVING (YARNS AND TEXTILES) . . . 165
General Remarks . . . . . . . . 165
Silk : . u ' . ■ . . . . ■ . . . . . 165
Other Raw Materials and their Extraction . . . .167
Spinning •. - . . . . .. i6g
Working up of the Thread . . . : . , . . .
The Cleaning of Textiles . . . . . . .175
The Dyeing of Textiles . . . . . . . .176
Milling and Making Cloth 177
Bleaching and Pressing , . . . . . .179
Treatment of the Cloths ; . . . . . . . 180
Felts, Rope-Making, Wicker-work 182
CONTENTS
. _xiJiR Organic Dyes
Inorganic Dyes and Painters’ Colours
THE TECHNIQUE OF PAINTING . . . .
Painting among the Egyptians and Babylonians
Painting among the Greeks and Romans
Painting on Tablets . . .
Binding Substances
The Encaustic Process
xiii
i86
i86
i8g
191
196
196
196
198
199
199
TECHNICAL MECHANICS AND MACHINES . . . . . 202
The Simple Machines 202
The Lever and its Applications . . , . . . , 203
The Inclined Plane . 207
The Pulley and the Wedge . . . . . . . 208
Overcoming Friction (Sledge-Runners, Wheels and Vehicles) . 210
Toothed Wheels and their Uses 215
Capstan and Tread-Wheel .217
Elasticity and its Applications : the Bow, the Crossbow and
Ballistic Machines , . . . . . . . . 218
Hydraulics . . . . . . . . ... 225
The Pressure of Water : the Water-Wheel .... 229
Exploiting Gas-Pressure 229
METHODS OF PRODUCING FIRE ; LIGHTING AND HEATING . 233
Fire-appliances 233
Lighting . , . 234
The oldest Methods of Lighting — Lamps and Candles.
Street-lighting . . . . . ... . . 244
Lighthouses . . . . 245
Heating .... . . . . . . . 247
Heating Materials — Fireplaces : Varieties of Hearth — Braziers
and their Derived FormS' — Stoves.
Heating Large Masses of Water. . . . . . . 257
The Problem of Central Heating . . . . . . 258
Heating by Hypocausts . . . . . . . . 259
Heating by Pipes . . . . . ... . . 264
T©WN-PLANNING . . . . . 267
Laying OUT Towns . . , . . . . . . 267
Town-Planning among THE Romans . • . . • . 273
FORTIFICATIONS . . . . . • • • • • 281
The Ramparts .... . . . • • • 281
Walls, Towers and Ditches. . . . . • • . 284
xiv TECHNICAL AI^TS AND SCIENCES OF THE
The Art of Fortification among the Greeks
Gateways . .
Roman Fortifications .
TOWN STREETS AND SQUARES
HABITATIONS .
The Oriental House
The Egyptian House
The Greek House .
The Roman House
Doors . . .
Locks and Keys .
MONUMENTAL AND PUBLIC EDIFICES
The Pyramids
Sphinxes
Temples
Theatres
Amphitheatres
Baths .
Basilicas
METHODS OF BUILDING
Original Methods
Timber Work
Frame Buildings
Roofings
Stone Buildings
Brickwork ,
The Construction of Vaults
Building Implements
BUILDING MATERIALS
Wood . .
Stone . .
Bricks, Artificial Stone and Artificial Materials
Mortars and Cements .
WATER-SUPPLY.
Water-Supply in the East
Water-Supply among the Egyptians
Water-Supply among the Greeks
.Water-Supply among the Romans
DRAINS AND SEWERS .
Drainage Systems in the Near East
Drains and Sewers among the Greeks
Roman Drainage Systems
ANCIENTS
PAGi;
305
314
314
314
316
319
335
336
340
340
345
347
353
361
366
376
379
379
"^379
381
3S3
385
390
391
394
397
397
398
403
404
409
409
417
419
425
437
437
440
444
CONTENTS
XV
IRRIGATION AND DRAINAGE . . ... . . . 447
^ ROADS AND BRIDGES . . . . ... . . 450
General Remarks . . . . . . . . . 450
Roads of the East . . . .... . . 450
^ Greek Roads. . • ■ • . . . . . . . 451
Roman Roads ... . . . . . ... 452
i ' Tunnels and Cuttings . . . .... . . 461
I Bridges . .. . . . . . ■ . . . 462
I . SHIPS AND SHIP-BUILDING . . . . .... 473
I' The Oldest Forms of Ships : Ships of the East . . . 473
The Ships of the Egyptians . . 476
Greek and Roman Ships : The ‘ Mediterranean ' Ship . . . 481
The Construction and Equipment of Ships among the Greeks and
Romans . . . . 483
The ‘ Trireme ’ Problem 495
Size and Speed of Ancient Ships . . . . . . 497
NAVIGATION 499
HARBOURS 503
INDEX OF AUTHORITIES . 507
INDEX OF SUBJECTS . . ... , . . . 510
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
FIGS.
I, 2 Method of Working in Ancient Mines
3, 4 Spoon-shaped Miners’ Lamps of Lead
5-7 Miners’ Earthenware Lamps ,
8 Gold-washing in Egypt
g-13 Representations of old Smelting Furnaces
14 Relief Decorations in Lead on a Roman Coffin
15 Prehistoric Blast-Furnace (Belgium)
16 Prehistoric Pit Furnace . , .
17 An Ancient Bloomery . . .
18 Bloomery Pot from Lower Lusatia .
19 Roman Bloomeries . . , .
20 Prehistoric Iron Smelting Works
21 A Corsican Bloomery. . .
22 A Catalan Bloomery .
23 A Bloomery in Kordofan . .
24 A Supposed Bloomery in Ancient Egypt
25 Crude Bloom and Worked ‘Bloom
26 Re-forged Bloom . .
27 An Isolated Ancient Blast-furnace ,
28 The Workshop of a Goldsmith .
29 Representation of a Gold-beater
30 Melting Metal by means of a Blowpipe
31 Bronze Statue of Hercules
32 Roman Gold-beater . . .
33, 34, Granite Form used to emboss Jewellery
35 Coppersmith Embossing a Vessel
36 Attic Phiale showing the Process of Embossing on
37 Embossing Large Vessels . .
38 The Sword of Tiberius .
39 Ancient Egyptian Embossing Mould .
40 Egyptian Embossing in Gold .
41 Specimens of Roman Embossing in Gold
42 Embossed Diadem from Mycenae
43 An Embossed Gold Vase from Mycenae
44 Gold Rosettes . . ...
45 Itmbossed Metal Vessels
46 Examples of Roman Goldsmith’s Work
47 ■ Punch for Ornamentations in Sheet-metal
4^ Weighing Money Rings
49 Another Egyptian Balance
50 Greek Dies for Coins
51 Ancient Coins bearing Coining Traces
52 Chasing a Helmet ....
53, 54 Roman Blowpipe and Soldering Iron
55 Egyptian Bellows , . . .
56 Tools of the Roman Smith
57 Greek Smithy depicted on an Attic Vase
b xvii
23
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xviii TECHNICAL ARTS AND SCIENCES OF THE ANCIENTS
Flos. ^ I’ACrl;
58 Smiths in Action in the Workshop of
59 A Cutler . . . •
60 A Cutler’s Shop . . .
61 A Common Smith . .
62 Roman Smiths . . .
63 Roman Regimental Smith .
64 Cupids at Work in the Smithy
65 A Grindstone
66 Ancient Roman Forged Metal
67 Ancient Roman Horseshoe .
68 Mould and Counterpart for Casting a Ri
69 Casting a Temple Door in Ancient Egypt
70 Egyptian Hand-mirror of Bronze
71 Solid Egyptian Cast of Precious Metal
72 Egyptian Hollow Cast
73 Prehistoric Stone Moulds .
74 Egyptian Bronzes
75, 76 Greek Casting Workshop
77 Statue of ‘ Hera ’ or ‘ The Spinner ’
78 The Wolf with Romulus and Remus
79-81 Specimens of Hollow Casting
82 Greek Folding Mirror
83, 84 A Roman Coiner's Casting Moulds
85, 86 A Roman Coiner’s Mould
87 Roman Niello
88-g-p-,JRoMAN Filigree
92 Egyptian Enamelling .
■93 Roman Enamel Work .
94 Roman Cei.lular Enamel
95 Egyptian Inlaid Work
96 Cupids as Goldsmiths .
97 Assyrian Wood-cutters
98 Roman Double Axe . .
99 Covering of a Roman Axe .
100, loi Roman Hatchet-knife .
102 Part of the Cover of a Roman Axe
103 Wood-working in Egypt . •
104 Egyptian Snw ,
1 05-1 07 Mallet- Chisel, and Drill
iq8 Egyptian Woodwork .
■ 109 Working at- a Statue of Hermes
H0-113 Roman ^ws .
114 Various Types of Roman Drills
1 15 Roman Plane ....
1 16 Cupids as Carpenters .
117-122 Carpentry
123 Roman Woodwork . .
124 Ancient Greek Woodwork from Mycenaf.
125 Preparation cf Leather in Egypt
126-128 Leather Work in Egypt
X29, 130 Cutting Soles in a Workshop
1 31 Pummelling a Leather Sole
132 A Greek Shoei^aker’s Workshop
133, 134 Roman Soles, Sandals, etc.
135 Roman S and als^ Fastened .to the Feet
136 Ancient Roman; Decorative Leather .
137 Bushman Digging Stick . .
138 The Mattock or Hoe, and the Hoe-plough
52
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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
139 The Iron Blade of a Coptic Hoe . . .
140 Greek Hoe-plough . / . . .
141 Kaffirs witIi Composite Ploughs and Rakes
142 Egyptian Hoe . • ...
143 Roman Agricultural Implements . . . . .
144, 145 Millstones of Trachyte . .
146 Egyptian Grinding-stone .
147 A Servant grinding Corn . ... . .
148 Rubbing Dish of Clay . . . . .
149, 150 Mortar of Ba.salt and Pestle of Hard Limestone
151 Greek Women pounding Grain in a Mortar
152 Roman Hand-mill . . . . .
153 Roman Mill. . . . . .
154 Iron Pivot and Disc in Roman Mills. ....
155 Roman Mill worked by an Ass . . . .
156 Bakers' Mills at Pompeii ...
157 Roman Water Mill ...
158 Egyptian Granary with a B.\kery in Front
159 A Bakery in Egypt . . . . . .
160 A Kneading-machine . . . . ...
161-163 Egyptian Loaves
164 Baker in Tanagra (5tli Century b.c.) .....
165 Oven in Pompeii .........
166 Section of an Oven at Pompeii ......
167 Pictorial Representation of Beer-brewing
168, 169 Egyptian Brewery . . . . . . .
170 Preparation of Wine in Egypt ......
171 Trojan Wine Depository . . . . . . .
172 Tran.sporting Wine in Casks ......
173 Beating Down the Olives from the Trees
174 Vertical Mill or Edge-rollers ......
175 Oil Press with its Press-beam ......
176 A See-saw Press . , . . , .
177 Cupids Extracting Oil .......
178 Wedge-press . . . ... . .
179 Oil-press W’orks in Stabiae ......
180 The ‘ Apoxyomenos ’ . . ...
181 Egyptian Containers of Cosmetics .....
182 A Spoon for Cosmetics or Ointments ....
183 Containers for Perfumers, Cosmetics, etc.
184 Egyptian Toilet Case made of Reeds ....
185, 186 Egyptian Instruments for making Mummies
187, 188 Canopic Vase, FOR Entrails , . .
189 Forearm of a Female Mummy ......
190 A Mummy with Bandages Removed .....
191 The Covering of a Mummy
192 Use of the Potter’s Wheel . . . . .
193 A Tomb Consisting of Fourteen Bricks ....
194 Roman Tiles with Stamps .......
19.5, Modelling Form ........
196 Making Bricks among the Egyptians
197 Model of an Egyptian Brick-works .....
198 Making Earthenware Vessels in Egypt ....
199, 200 So-called ‘ Glazed Faience ’ or ' Egyptian Porcelain ’
201, 202 ‘Egyptian Faience’
203 Ancient Chinese Furnace .......
204 Greek Potter’s Wheel . .
205 - A Greek Vase . . .
«3
«3
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gr
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III
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1 27-8
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13 1
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XX TECHNICAL ARTS AND SCIENCES OF THE ANCIENTS
■206
Tan AGRA Figure . . . .
144
207
Barbotine Vase . . . . •
146
208
Roman Potters’ Furnaces .
148
209,
210 Roman Potter’s Furnace in Heddernheim
148
2 II
Model of a Roman Pottery . .
149
212
Romano-Germanic Earthenware .
151
213
Glass Stick WITH the Name Amenemhat III
153
214
Glass from Factory of Tel-el-Amarna
154
215
Coloured Glass Sticks and Vessels . .
154
216
Egyptian Hand-mirror, with a Glass Inset
155
217
Glass Rosettes from the Case of a Mummy
156
218
Statue of a Man, made of Limestone
I 5 f>
219
Roman Glass-blowing .....
160
220
Roman Flasks in Glass ....
161
221
Roman Diatreta Vessels ....
161
222
Roman Pane of Glass . .
162
223
Millefiori Dish {Ro!man) .
163
224
Egyptian Distaff for Spinning .
170
225
Egyptian Spindle with an Attached Whorl
170
226
Roman Spindle with Whorl .
170
227
Spinning on the Thigh .
17 1
228
ovoQ (spindle)
1 71
229
Penelope’s Loom . ...
173
230
Egyptian Loom . . .
173
231
Ancient Greci.^n Loom . .
173
232
Weaver’s Shuttle made of Bone
174
233
Egyptian Weaver’s Batten and Two Slays of
Wood
174
234
Grate-shaped Slay .....
175
235
Embroidering by Means of Embroidering Frame
175
236
The Milling of Cloth
177
237
Cleaning of the Thistles for Dressing the Cloth .
178
238
Dressing the Cloth
178
239
Plan of the Fullonica in Pompeii
178
240
A Cloth Press . . . . . .
180
241
Greek Garments ......
181
242-
244 Roman Garments .....
181-2
245
Egyptian Wickerwork of Palm Bast .
183
246
Egyptian Child’s Shoe ....
183
247
Woven Cane Chair (relief)
184
248
Egyptian Ropemaker .....
185
249
Purple Mussels ......
187
250
The Instruments of a Purple Dyer .
189
251
Egyptian Painter’s Palette
197
252
Greek Painter ......
197
253
Painting on Canvas . . . . .
198
254.
255 Tools and Instruments used for Encaustic Painting
200
256
Shadoof IN Babylon , . . . .
203
257
Shadoof for raising Water from the Nile
204
258
PiCOTAH OF THE INDIANS
204
259
A Contrivance for drawing Water , .
*204
260
Roman Balance or Steelyard . . .
205
261
Steelyard. Another Form. . . .
20 ’^
262
Steel Jack: in Use . . . . .
206
263
A Balance Consisting of a Lever with Equal
Arms
206
264
Automatic Device for supplying Holy Water
206
265
The Construction of Archimedes' Screw .
207
266,
267 'Endless Screws’ , . . .
208
268-
-270 Gears and Pulleys . . . .
209
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
XXI
271 Assyrians using Sledge-runners for Transport
272 Assyrians transporting a Gigantic Monument on Runners
* 273,274 Egyptians transporting Monuments on Runners
275 A Large Vessel carried on Sledge-runners .
276 Assyrian Vehicle with Wheels of Eight Spokes
277 Egyptain War Chariot ... . . .
278 Egyptians Building Vehicles . . . . ...
279 Greek Vase, showing A Chariot . . . . . .
280 Greek Bronze Chariot . ...
281 Apparatus for measuring Distances (Hodomister)
282 Arm of a Puppet being moved by a Toothed Wheel
283 Toothed Wheels and Winches , . . .
284 Gear Propelled by a Camel for drawing Water from the Nilic
285 Capstan .
286 Tread-wheel connected with a Bucket-system . . .
287 Ordinary Wooden Bow from Ancient Greece . . .
288 Egyptian Bows from Tombs in Thebes
289 Greek Composite Bow of the Recoiling Type . . .
290 Greek Vase showing a Man BENDING A Bow
291, 292 ‘ Onager ’ . .
293 Two-armed Ballista . . . .
294 The Pneumatic Spanner OF Ktesibios ....
295 A Sucker in Use. . . ....
296,297 Ktesibios’ Water-clock . .... .
298 Use of the Under-shot Water-wheel
299 Fire-pump . . . . .
300 The Water-organ of Ktesibios . . ....
301 Heron’s Aeoiapile . . . . ....
302 Bow AND Sinew for lighting a Fire . . . . .
303 Vase with Torch-bearer . . . . .
304 Torch-holder from Tiryns . . . . . . .
305 Stone Lamps of the Minoan Period of Crete . . .
306 Lamp-mould . . ..... . .
307 Closed Clay Lamps (Roman) . . . . .
308 Bronze Lamp with Open Bowl and Funnel-shaped Spout .
309 Closed Roman Safety Lamps
310, 31 1 Annular Roman Lamp . ... . . .
312 Greek Lamp on a Stand . . . . . . .
313 Bronze Stool serving as a Lamp-stand . . . .
314 Bronze Lamp-stands . . ... . . .
315,316 Greek Lamp-stands and Ch.andelier . . ..
317 The Lamp of Philon of Byz.antium . . . . .
318 The Lamp of Heron of Alexandria . . . . .
319 Big Greek Bronze C.andlestick . . . ...
320 Upper Part of a Greek Candlestick . . . .
321 Etruscan Candelabrum with Horizontal Spikes
322 Boy with Torch. Bronze Candel.\brum .
323 Lantern from Herculaneum . . . . .
324, 325 The Lighthouse of Alexandria .....
326. Roman Lighthouse .at Corunna ......
327-333 Oldest Forms of the Hearths
334, 335 Bronze Ch.afing Dishes ......
336 A Compound Brazier ........
337 Vessel for Prep.aring Caldum
338 Pompeian Portable Stove . .
339 Ancient Greek Portable Stove ......
340 Kettle with Cylindrical Grate Bars ....
341 Germanic Stove with Grate
. 244
. 246-7
. 247
249-51
• 253
• 254
■ 254
• 255
• 255
256
. 256
xxii TECHNICAL ARTS AND SCIENCES OF THE ANCIENTS
WGS;
342 Boiler in Ladies’ Bath in the Stabian Thermae at Pompeii
343 Hypocaust in the Roman Theatre in Fiesole .
344 Hypocausts at Treves . . . . .
345 Praefurnium of an Ancient Roman Heating Apparatus .
346 Construction of Hypocausts and Channelled Walls .
347 Hypocaust in the ‘ Civilian ’ Settlement . . . .
348 Praefurnium of the Hypocaust . . . . . . .
349 Plan of the Hypocaust near Saalburg
350 Heating by Pipes . . . ■ . ...
351.352 System of Heating by Pipes . , . . .. . .
353 System of Hypocausts and Heating-pipes . . . . . .
354 Plan of Babylon . . ... . . .
355 Plan of Piraeus , . . . . . . .
356 Part of the Plan of Priene . . . . . . .
357 Plan of Alexandria .........
358 Plan of Timgad . . . . . . . .
359 Plan of the Roman Settlement at Treves . . . .
360 Model of Roman Cologne . . . . ...
361 Wendish Earthwork .........
362, 363 Bank-fence on the Altkonig , . . .
364 Vitrified Wall at Plauen in Voigtland . . ....
365 Plan of an Ancient .Babylonian Fortress
366-368 The Walls of Troy , . . . . . ' .
369 The Brick Wall of Troy w.hich rests on Clay Cakes
370 Gateway with Projecting Flanking Towers . . . .
371 Fortific.vtion of the Citadel at Tiryns . . . . .
372 Part of the Town Wall of Athens . . .
373 Another Sp:ction of Themistocles' Wall . . . . .
374 The Lion Gate of Mycenae . . . . ,
375 Gate at Messene . . . . ...
376 Gate at Missolonghi . . . . . . . . , .
377 Gate of Thorikos . .
378 Gate of Phigalia . . . . .
379 Gate at Samos . .
380 The Fortified Camp on the Bay of Verudella . . . .
381, 382 Town Walls of Pompeii . . . . .
383, 384 The Breastworks of the Walls of Pompeii
385, 386 Tower in the City Wall of Pompeii . . . . .
387-389 The Three Stories of the Tower on the Wall of Pompeii
390,391 Porta Nigra at Treves . . . . . .
392 Roman Watch-tower on the Limes . . . . . .
393 Plan OF the Amphitheatre of Treves . . . .
394 Porta Herculanea at Pompeii . . . . . , .
395. 396 Plans of Saalburg Camp . . . . . . .
397 Gateway of Saalburg Camp, . . . . . . .
398, 399 Porta Decuman a of Saalburg Camp . . . . .
400 Parallel Triangular Ditch with Wall ...
401 The Roman Limes in Germania
402 Ornamental Gate at Palmyra .......
403 The Great Colonnade at Palmyra
404 Plan of Roman Ornamental Public Place. . . . .
405 Roman Ornamental Street . .
406 Pompeian Street .........
,407 Street blocked to Traffic .......
408 Street in Pompeii . . ...
409 Mended Pavement in Pompeii ....
410 Pavement with Stepping-stones for Pedestrians
41 1, 412 Streets in Pompeii ... , . . . :
PAGE
257
260
260
260
261
262
262
263
265
265
266
268
271
272
273
274
275
276
281
282
283
285
287-8
290
291
291
292
292
293
293
294
294
294
294
295
296-7
297
297
298
298-9
299
300
300
301-2
303
303
304
304
306
♦307
308
308
309
309
310
310
310
311
'I
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xxiii
413 Sewer in the Forum at Pompeii . . ... . 312
414 System of Gutters at Pompeii . . . . . . .312
415 Outlets for the Rain-water in a Street at Pompeii . . 312
416 Ancient Greek Houses AT Priene . . . . . 317-18
417 Ancient Greek Dwelling in Priene , . . , . - 318
418 So-called 'House of Hyrcanus ’ . . . . . . 318
419 Oldest Known Form of Roman House . . . . , 320
42a Roman House with Peristyle Court . . , , . . 321
421 Mural Painting in Mosaic Style ...... 322
422-424 Roman Floors . . . . . . . . . 323
425-427 The House of the Vettii at Pompeii . . •324-5
428-430 Plans of Pompeian House . . . . . . . 326
431 Ground Plan of a Pompeian House ...... 327
432, 433 Hadrian’s Villa at Tivoli . . . . . . .328-9
434. 435 The ‘ Promenade-w’’All ' in Hadrian’s Villa at Tivoli 329-30
436 Ruins of a Rom.an House . . . . , . . . 330
437 House WITH Tuscan Atrium . . . . . . . 331
438,439 Tuscan Atrium . ... . . . . . 332
440 Tiled Roof of the Casa ui Sirico in Pompeii . . . . 332
441 Tetrastylum of a Small Pompeian House . . . . . 333
443 Pompeian House with Atrium Displuvi.atum . . . . . 333
443 Pompeian House with a Cellar . . . . . . . 333
444 Plan of a Shop . . . . ... . . . 334
445 Front View of a Shop in Pompeii . . . . . ;. 334
446 Entrance of a Roman Shop . . . . . . . 33.f
447 Shutter OF A Shop , . . . . . . . . 335
448 ,, ,, ,, H0RIZ0NT.AL Section . . . . • 335
449-451 Models of Roman Keys . . . . . . ‘ 33 ^
452 Homeric Lock . . . . . . , . . . 337
453 The Unlocking of a Homeric Lock . . . . . . 337
454 Female Serv.ant with Key . ... . . . . 338
455 Key FROM Ilium (Troy) . . . . . . . . 338
456 Roman Key . . . . . . .... 338
457,458 Roman Trigger-lock . . . . . . . * 339
459 Roman Keyhole and Key . ... . . ■ . . 339
460 Roman Padlock . . .... ... .339
461, 462 Diagrams showing the Astronomic Relations of the IA'ramid
OF Cheops. . . . . . ... . . 342
463 Vertical Section through the Pyramid of Cheops . . . 344
464 Reconstruction of the Sphinx . . , . . . . 347
465, 466 Origin.-vl Forms of Greek Temples ..... 350
467 Ground-plan of the Origin.\l Greek Temple .... 350
468, 469' Templum in Antis . . . . . • . . . 350
470, 471 Plans OF the Pro.style Temples . . . . . . 350
472 Peripteral Temple 351
473 .Plan of the Temple of Apollo at Bassae . . . • 35 ^
474 Peripteral Temple w'ITh Five Frontal Columns . . 331
475 Special Form of the Peripteral Temple ..... 352
476 Dipter.vl Temple -352
477 Pseudo-Dipteral Temple 352
478 Ruins of a Pseudo-Dipteral Temple 352
479 Circular Roman Temple ........ 353
480 The Theatre of Pergamon ........ 354
481 The Orchestra of the Theatre seen from the Aiuijturium . 355
482 Ground-plan of a Greek Theatre , . . . . -357
483 Plan of an open Roman Theatre 358
'484 Plan of a Roofed Roman Theatre 359
4S5 Roman Theatre at Fiesole 359
xxiv TECHNICAL ARTS AND SCIENCES OF THE ANCIENTS
486 Reconstruction of a Roman Theatre . ‘ .
487, 488 The Colosseum in Rome ....
489, 490 The Amphitheatre at Treves
491 View of the Amphitheatre of Verona
Surrounding Wall of the Verona Amphitheatre
Corridor and Buttress at the Verona Amphitheatre
Cellars and Machinery of the TniivEs Amphitheatre
Cellar underneath the Treves Amphitheatre .
Masonry surrounding the Verona Amphitheatre
Reconstruction of the Thermae of Diocletian.
Plan of the Large Thermae at Pompeii .
Apodyterium of the Stabian Thermae at Pompeii
The Palaestra of the Stabian Thermae .
Plan of the ‘ Small Thermae ’ at Pompeii
502-505 Baths in the ‘ Small Thermae ’ at Pompeii.
506 Ruins of the Thermae of Titus
507 Reconstruction of the Thermae of Agrippa
508-510 Thermae of Caracalla . . . . .
51 1 Ground-plan of the Thermae of Agrippa .
512-515 Basilica OF Pompeii . .
516 Timber-work in the Temple of Thermos in Aetolia
Greek Gabled Roof . . . . . .
Eaves, etc., of the Treasury at Gela
Masonry in Cellar of Building in Saalburg .
Roman Wall consisting of Brickwork and Ashlar
Corner of a House made of Hewn Stone .
Opus Incbrtum . . ...
' Cast ’ Masonry in the Forum Civile at Pompeii
524, 525 Opus Rettculatum . . . , . ■ .
526,^ 527 Opus Spicatum
528* Masonry consisting of Stone with Binding Courses
Pseudo-vault at Mycenae . . . .
Chaldean Pseudo-vault in the Sepulchre at Mugheir
Vault made of Wedge-shaped Stones
Vaulted Ceiling in the Imperial Palace at Treves
Barrel-vault made of Irregular Stones .
Superposed Roman Arches .
Chorobates . . . , . . .
Tools of Roman Masons . . .
Mason smoothing Plastering on a Wall .
The Tools of a Mason . . .
Gigantic Stone which has been transported for Building
poses . . . . ....
SH.A.PED Stones in the Quarry of Baalbek
The Tomb of Theodoric in RxWENna . . .
Sea of Stone in the Odenwald , . . .
Granite worked by the Romans in the Odenwald
544,545 The ‘ Altar-stone ’
546 Huge Block of Granite, worked . . .
547 ‘ Giant Pillar ’ on the Stone Mountains .
548 Egyptians working in Stone . . . ,
549-55 1 Limekiln in the Val di Gardena. . .
552 Lowest Water-basin of the Ancient Assyrian Aqueduct
553-566 Plan and Details of Solomon's Water-system
567-569 Jerusalem’s Water-supply ....
570 The Siloah Tunnel and the ' Meeting Point ’ .
571 Egyptian S.\kia with a Windlass
572 The Aqueduct of Samos . . , . .
492
493
494
495
496
497
498
499
500
501^
517
518
519
520:
521
522
523
529
530
531
532
533
534
535
536
537
538
539
540
541
542
543
360
361- 2
362- 3
363
364
364 _
364
365
365
366
367
368
369
370
370-2
372
373
374-5
376
377-8
382
383
384
387
388
388
388
388
389
389-90
390
391
391
392
392
392
393
394
394
395
396
398
399
399
400
400
401
401
4.01
402
407
410
412-14
414-16
• 417
. 418
. 421
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
XXV
573-576 The Aqueduct of Pergamon
577 Greek Well
57S Wells BEHIND Houses .
579 Well with Woodwork and Roof
580 Well with Wall-frame and Roof
581 Distribution of Water in a Modern Town
582 Distribution of Water in an Ancient Town .
583 Remains of Ancient Roman Aqueducts . .
584 Section through a Part of Aqua Marcia ;
585 Tunnel, Part of Water-system of Treves
586 Interior View of the Piscina Mirabilis at Baiae
587, 588 Piscina at Castel Gandolfo .
589 Piscina at Castel Gandolfo .
590 Lead Water Pipes . . .
591. 592 Fountain with Water-tower in Pompeii
593 Fountain in the Interior of a House in Pompeii
594 System of Lead Pipes that may be closed by Means of a Tap
595 Section of a Fountain in Pompeii , .
596 Water-tap FROM THE Palace OF Tiberius . . .
597, 598 Drains under Palaces of Nimrod
599 Lead Plug for closing Rain-water Drain
Embedded Copper Pipe for Running off Rain-water
Rain-pipe Groove in King Sahura's Mortuary Temple
Public Place of Retirement with Water-flushing .
Shower-bath, according to a Greek Vase Painting .
604-607 Bath in the Royal Castle at Tiryns .
608 Combined Foot and Hip-bath from Mycenae
Foot-bath from Priene . . .
Lavatory and Foot-baths in Priene Gymnasium
Plan of the Palaestra at Olympia . ,
View of a Part of the Cloaca Maxima . .
The Exit of the Cloaca Maxima into the Tiber
Roman Log-road . . . , ...
Roman Road supported on Stakes, at Rodelheim
Section of a Roman High-road
617, 618 Section through Roman Roads at .Heddeunheim
619 Section through the Bedding of an Ancient Roman Road
620, 621 Roman Road at Heddernheim
622, 623 Part of the Via Appia
624 SoAK-AWAY Channel below a Roman Road at Heddernheii
625-627 Roman Mile-posts and Stones
628 Reconstructed Roman Milestones
629 Trestle-bridge SET up on Land . . . . . . . 465
630 Caesar's Rhine Bridge 465
631 Mesopotamian Arched Bridge . . . . ... 466
632, 633 Ancient Roman Bridges . . . . . . . 467
634 Pons Aelius (Present-day Ponte Sant’ Angelo in Rome) , . 468
635 The Foundations of the Ponte Sant’ Angelo .... 469
636 The Isola Tiberina and the Two Bridges, Pons Ce.stius and Pons
, Fabricius -470
637 Model of the Roman Bridge at Mainz , . . . ' . 470
638 Piling-grating with Ballasting and Parts of Masonry , . 470
639 Roman Medal 471 ;
640, 641 The Bridge at TRi:vES . , . . . • . . 471-2
642 Assyrian Kelek and a Man on a Float 473
643 Making Keleks from * Burdjuks ’ 474
644 Circular Assyri.an Boat 474
645 Assyrian Warship 475
600
601
602
603
609
610
611
612
613
614
615
616
rAOl!
422-4
424
425
425
425
427
427
429
430
430
431
432
433
433
433-4
435
436
436
436
438
439
439
440
440
441
442
442
442
443
443
445
445
453
454
455
455
456
456
457
458
459-60
460
xxvi TECHNICAL ARTS AND SCIENCES OF THE ANCIENTS
646 T3U1 LDING A Ship in Egypt . . . .
647 Types OF Egyptian Ships . , . . . .
648-651 Types of Egyptian Ships . .
652 Ring-rowlocks on Egyptian Ships ....
C53. Greek and Roman Ships .....
655 Greek Trireme . . . . . . . .
656 The After Part of a Roman Sailing-Vessel
657 Battering Ram of a Roman War-ship . . .
658 Rowing-ship on a River . . ...
659 Two-masted Vessel . . . . . .
660 A Small Roman Ship . . . .
661 Roman Sailing-Vessel
662 Greek Sailing-Vessel ...
663 Primitive Wooden Anchor Weighted by a Stone
664-666 Forms of Greek Anchors . ,
667 Penteres . . . . . . . . .
668 Trireme with Oars raised out of the Water .
669 Landmark denoting a Landing-place .
670 Plan of the Harbour of Methone (Modon) . .
671 The Ancient Greek Mole of Methone .
672, 673 The Head of the Greek Mole of Methone
674 Remains of the Ancient Greek Fort-wall of Methone
675 Plan of Trajan’s Harbour at Ostia .
676 The Nike of Samothrace .
478
478
478-80
480
484
487
489
490
491
491
492
493
494
494
495
496
501
504
504
504
504
505
505
BOOKS OF WHICH FREQUENT USE
HAS BEEN MADE
Baumeister : Denkmaler des klassischen Altertums zum Erlmtenmg des Jiebens
der Gnechen und Romer in Religion. Kunst imd Sitte. Munich and
Leipzig, 1885-1888.
BlOmner : Technologie und Terminologie der Gewerbe mid Kiinste bei Griechen
und Romern. Berlin and Leipzig, 1912.
CuRTius : Griechische Geschichte. Berlin. 1857-1861.
Davemberg and Saglio : Diciionnaire des antiquitees Grecques et Romaines.
Paris, 1877-1917.
Forrer: Reallexikon der prdhistorischen, klassischen und fruhchristlichen
Altertiimer. Berlin and Stuttgart, 1908.
Friedlander : Darstellungen aus dar Sittengeschichte Roms. Leipzig, 1888-
1890.
Herodotus : Histories. Translation by Lange. Leipzig.
FIero of Alexandria : Greek and German edition of his works, edited by
Wilhelm Schmidt. Leipzig, 1899.
Hoops : Reallexikon der germanischen Altertums kunde. Strassburg. From
1911 onwards.
Mommsen: Romische Geschichte. Berlin, 1903.
Pauly-Wissowa ; Realenzyklopddie der klassischen Altertums-wissenschaften.
Stuttgart, from 1894 onwards.
Pliny : Natural History. Translated and commented on by Ph. C. KiUb.
Stuttgart, 1840.
Tacitus : Die Germania des Cornelius Tacitus. Translated from the Lcitin
with an Introduction and explanatory notes by Max Oberbreyer. Leipzig.
Vitruvius : Des Vitruvius zehn Biichen iiber die Architekhir. Stuttgart, 1865.
INTRODUCTION
T he present has often been called the age of technical science.
This statement unintentionally suggests that it has been reserved
for our times to create the technical sciences and to develop
them to a high standard, and that they did not exist in the remoter
past. This idea is entirely erroneous. In reality technical science has
existed throughout the ages from the very beginnings of the human race.
That of the present differs from that of the past chiefly in making use
of certain natural forces, above all steam-power and electricity, to an
extent never before thought possible, with the result that some branches
of our civilization have assumed entirely new forms. This is most
strikingly exemplified in our means of locomotion.
It is therefore wrong to speak of a particular ‘ Age of Technical
Science.’ We must rather regard technical science as an expression of
the human mind, that has its root in the nature of things and has from
time immemorial been inspired by Man’s very existence. Like all
expressions of the human spirit, however, technical science, which may
be defined as the unceasing struggle of man with matter, has its periods
of ebb and flow. These periods exhibit immense differences. If we
review them in succession we observe two great flood-tides : the present
time and antiquity.
The technical science of antiquity differs from that of the present
chiefly in having, by methods much simpler than those which would
now be available, achieved results which are in some ways so remarkable
that they have not since been surpassed. In making full use of steam
and electricity and of the other sources of power which have become
known to us in the course of time our technical science has developed
more broadly, whereas on the other hand that of the ancients certainly
penetrated more deeply. The much more limited knowledge of that
time was exploited to the utmost. Simple means were used for hundreds
or even thousands of years without in many cases being essentially
improved, but so ingeniously and efflciently as often to astonish us.
Compared, however, with the technical science of later periods, and
in particular of that of the Middle Ages, the technical science of antiquity
differs widely in several respects. Throughout the Middle Ages and for
some centuries subsequently, it commonly suffered, stagnation in conse-
quence of being restricted within the narrow limits and regulations
imposed by the system of guilds which rigorously prescribed the hours
of work, the number of qualified workmen, the types of raw material to
be used, as well as the shape and size of all the means involved. All
free development, all attempts to overstep these bounds, were vigorously
XXX TECHNICAL AiJtS AND SCIENCES OF THE ANCIENTS
suppressed and heavily punished. The efforts of the Middle Ages
produced good results, but these results were always achieved by genera-
tion after generation working unwaveringly along perfectly definite
lines within close limits, freedom of artistic expression alone being-
permitted. In antiquity the conditions were different; In this case, too,
there were guilds and for long periods of time the same purpose, was
pursued with the same means, but other-wise no obstacles were placed in
the way of free development. Genius was given a free rein. It received
intelligent encouragement on all sides, in particular frorn the state
authorities — a condition of things which was not repeated until the end
of the Middle Ages and then only in isolated instances and at a time,
namely the Renaissance, which was characterized by having its roots
in antiquity. But even in this case the complete freedom of former
times was never fully attained. For whoever dared to advance too far,
whose spirit even in the realm of technical science soared too far beyond
the traditional limits, could not always be shielded by the most
powerful of patrons from being led before the tribunal of the Inquisition
and from having to submit to whatever consequences ensued.
We thus see in ancient technical science a period of development
which is definitely characterized by great results achieved with com-
paratively simple means, and by unrestrained growth in almost every
direction. These simple means refer not only to the machines used, but
above all to the scientific basis on which technical life was founded.
What has been accomplished technically by the ancients is in many
■instances so surprising and extraordinary that one often hears the opinion
that the ancients must have possessed knowledge that has since become
lost to us ; they must have been familiar with properties, particularly
of a physical nature, of which we have not the faintest idea. In some
cases this opinion is not to be entirely ignored, but no cogent proof of its
correctness have ever been adduced. As has already been mentioned, the
technical science of antiquity excels in depth of penetration rather than
in extensiveness. The astronomical, mathematical and physical know-
ledge then available was exploited to the fullest extent. It was applied
practically in every way possible at that time. It may be that the
knowledge of some particular substance or plant which the ancients used
for a special technical purpose, such as for painting or embalming, has
not been handed down to posterity ; nevertheless we are fairly well
informed generally about the extent and details of their knowledge. It
is not then this knowledge itself that excites our admiration so much as
the systematic and deliberate manner in which they applied it ; with a
comparatively meagre equipment they often accomplished as much
as — indeed, sometimes even more than — we who have at our disposal
such wide knowledge in the most diverse fields. Among the factors
utilized to the utmost was human labour and the time-element, to which
little value was attached at that peripd. We shall refer to these two
points frequently in the sequel.
In antiquity, just as in modern times, it was left to a few pre-eminent
minds to open up new avenues in technical science, apart from the high-
INTRODUCTION ^ xxxi
road of gradually accumulated knowledge. The names of these jnoncers
have mostly sunk into oblivion ; only a few have survived the passage
of time. But one fact emerges from what has been passed down to us :
the technical worker of antiquity had a much higher prestige than in
later times until quite recently, notwithstanding our pride in this so-called
technical age and its wonderful achievements. If the technical scientist
nowadays occupies the position to which his general education, know-
ledge and achievements entitle him, we must not forget that it has been
won only after a hard and prolonged struggle, and that even now there
are representatives of other branches of knowledge who deny him full
standing. In antiquity, however, the technical expert was a much sought
after person who enjoyed the greatest respect. It may even be con-
jectured that among some races there were certain relationships between
such experts and the priests, who held supreme rank. The form of
some ancient constructions still bears witness to the high honour in which
the technical worker was held in antiquity. In the ancient Roman
Empire, indeed, there was hardly a bridge that was not crowned by a
.sort of triumphal arch in honour of the builder. The mightiest rulers of
the world drew the technical scientist into their service and in some cases
gave him a particularly high position. Very often, too, provision was
made for the special training of expert workers. Technical officials were
appointed for the State as well as for the towns, and some armies had
even a special corps for engineers.
The influence of technical science in the State was far-reaching in
antiquity, and there are numerous indications that the ancients were
fully aware of its importance. The State’s existence could be maintained
only with the help of the arts and crafts ; they alone could assure the
prosperity that was the basis of its existence. In almost all the ancient
empires technical experts checked the overflowing of the rivers and in
this way rescued large tracts of land from destruction. In many cases
they knew how to drain marshy country and convert it into fruitful
land, and to convert sandy deserts into flourishing cornfields by a well-
built system of irrigation. It was they who created the network of roads
which made it possible to send the army quickly to the most distant
frontiers of the empire, so that they could not only be protected from
hostile attacks but could be continually extended. It was the technical
worker who built strong walls that defied the onslaught of the enemy,
and it was he who had to construct the machines by which the enemy
was finally vanquished. It was he who built and unceasingly improved
the various means of communication and so encouraged trade, this mo.st
important factor of prosperity. Between the existence of the .State and
ancient technical science many links w^ere thus forged which in turn
exerted their influence on the life of the individual. Technical science
created prosperity and, reciprocally, prosperity presented technical science
with new problems. Improved conditions called for development in
Art ; again it was the technical worker who furnished the artist with
the many requirements of his work. Streets and houses increased in
dimensions. It w-as the business of the technical \vorker to introduce
xxxii TECHNICAL .4 iTS AND SCIENCES OF THE ANCIENTS
hygienic measures in the form of drains, aqueducts and so forth, the
need of which in every moderately sized community was recognized
even in antiquity. The wonderful remnants of these achievements still
extant are an imperishable testimony to the difficulty of the problems
that presented themselves and to the masterly way in which they were
solved.
We see, then, that technical science exerted a strong influence over
the whole of civic and public life in antiquity. It may be said that then,
just as nowadays, the State which had at its disposal the best technical
scientists and the best technical equipment had the most favourable
prospects for the future. Many things prove that the ancients were by
no means blind to this fact. A knowledge of ancient technical science
is indispensable to anyone who wishes to comprehend fully the’ mind
of antiquity.
THE TECHNICAL ARTS AND
SCIENCES OF THE ANCIENTS
MINING
N O technical science is possible without mining. This was equally
true in ancient . times, for no technical development would
have been possible if man had not known how to wrest from
the earth the treasures which it held concealed. Comparatively little
could be done with what it offered voluntarily. • Wood and other parts
of plants, loose stones, bones of dead animals and fish, satisfied the needs
of primitive man and savages. At the moment, however, when that
many-sided development of human activity commenced, which we
summarize as ‘ civilization’, it was necessary to look round for other
means. Tools were required for working the materials necessary to
build houses. Agricultural implements as well as improved weapons
were needed, and domestic life made demands which could be satisfied
only by making new .substances available. The major part of these
could, however, be obtained only by means of mining.
It may therefore be said that the beginning of civilization among the
individual peoples coincided with that of mining. It is true that the
, date when the technical science of ipining commenced in the case of
any one race cannot be determined even approximately. Probably
individual peoples of the East, following the instinct for development,
started quite of themselves to probe the earth for treasure. They
found, sometimes here, sometimes there, a stone or a precious metal
which was of use. The desire of possessing more drove them to continue
cligging. In this way, perhaps, the science of mining gradually evolved.
When trade and commerce later became factors in life, this science was
transmitted to other peoples. For example, a Greek legend relates that
Kadmos, who w’'as probably of Phoenician extraction, had opened up
gold and silver mines at Mount Pangaeus in Thrace. These mines may
justifiably be regarded as the oldest in Europe. In the same way mines
were started by the Phoenicians on several islands in the Mediterranean
and on the coast of Spain. Similarly commerce was responsible for the
introduction of mining into other countries. For example, when the
Emperor Hadrian arrived in Britain with the Sixth Legion in the year
A.D. 120, he immediately started mines, which were w^orked and improved
2 MINING
till the year 409. He, of course, applied the methods usual in Roman
mines.
Mining was at different stages of advancement among the various
ancient peoples. It was particularly developed among the Egyptians, who
probably opened up copper mines on the peninsula of Sinai as early as the
third millennium B.c. Besides these the vast quarries of Turra near Cairo
have also been preserved; they prove to us that at that very early
date open working had been given up in favour of shafts. The ancient
Egyptians were thus not satisfied with merely removing the stones in
the hill from the outside, but penetrated far into the interior. Wells
of the same period, for example, Joseph’s well at Cairo, descend
up to 300 ft. vertically into the earth. In view of the fact that these
shafts were constructed about 2500 bx., it can hardly be doubted that
similar ones were also dug out for mining purposes in some cases.
The high standard of mining construction attained by the Egyptians
is rivalled by the Indians and the Chinese, who likewise sank pits about
5,000 years ago. These mines are mostly choked up nowadays and
investigators have given them scant attention. Nevertheless, there are
other indications that men knew even at that early time how to dis-
tinguish the mineral ore from the sterile stone. These were separated
and, just as nowadays, the dross was collected into great heaps. The
pit-heaps of our modern mines are an inexhaustible source of information
for the mineralogist, the geologist, the mining engineer and the repre-
sentatives of several other branches of research. In the same way the
pit-heaps of ancient mines bear striking testimony to the standard
reached in a lost science. They enable us to recognize the metals of
which the production was at that time promoted and give us clues to
the means adopted for that purpose. The metals themselves and the
art of working in metal , are dealt with in other sections of this book.
Here, where we wish to discuss the question of mining, we are primarily
concerned only with the construction and working of ancient mines.
Before going into details we must preface our remarks by mentioning
that almost all ancient peoples sank and worked their mines according
to the same principles. It has already been remarked that in consequence
of the growth of trade and commerce technical science was communicated
from people to people. We thus find in the Indian and Chinese mines
very much the same conditions as later in the Phoenician and Egyptian
mines, and .still later in those of the Greeks, Romans, Celts, Gauls, Britons
and others. The treasures that were being sought and the ores that
were being separated out differ more or less in the various countries,
but the manner of their extraction was much the same in all.
The miner of ancient times was nearly always either a slave or a
criminal. This explains why the means used remained almost unchanged
for thousands of years. The purpose of machines is to economize labour
or time. It was not considered necessary to make the work easier for
the slave, whose hard lot inspired no sympathy, although it kept him to
the end of his days buried in the gloomy depths of the earth, suffering all
sorts of torments and privations. There was mostly a superabundance of
MINING * 3
slaves. After campaigns there were usually so many that great numbers
of them were massacred. So there was no dearth of labour. Time
was as yet but little valued. And so it happened that in almost all
the mines of the ancients only the simplest means were adopted. In
the copper mines of Rio Tinto and Tharsis in the Spanish province of
Huelva, which were worked by the Romans and the Carthaginians, the
method of working was so simple that the slaves in the mines had to
scratch off with their fingers the clay which covered the ore. The clay
which is found nowadays in ancient mines still bears the impress of
thousands of fingers ; if we examine them we make a curious observation,
viz., that on account of the nature of the work the thumb is very highly
developed, as in the case of certain artisans even at the present time.
Usually, however, the ancients used hammers and wedges, and probably
also bones and horns. A familiar emblem of mining consists of two
crossed hammer-shaped tools, the mallet and the wedge, the former
serving as a hammer, while the edge of the latter was forced into the
stone. The tools of the ancient miner exhibit the same form. No
matter whether they are
of horn, bone, stone or
metal we always find the
‘ iron that is, the wedge,
which was held against
the stone and which was
struck by means of a
mallet. It is significant
that among the miners in
Germany the mallet is
still called ' Faustel
(miner’s hammer), a name
which is immediately explained by the discovery — in ancient mines
or their pit-heaps — of stones whose form indicates that they were used
as hammers, being grasped in the fist. In a choked-up tunnel of the
ancient Roman mine mentioned above (in the Spanish province of Huelva),
fifteen skeletons were found of which several were still holding the
‘ Faustel ’ in their hands at the time of the discovery. But the ‘ Faustel ’
was often provided with a handle and thus converted into a proper
hammer, and similarly a handle was stuck through or tied on to the
wedge.
We also find such tools represented on ancient votive tablets that
probably date from the seventh or sixth century J3.c., and are the only
remaining pictorial representations of the working of ancient mines.
These votive tablets, the so-called Corinthian pinakes, are made of
painted clay. Most of them are pre.served in the Berlin Antiquarium.
They .show that on account of the heat the miners usually went about
their work naked or simply wore an apron. The form of the hammer
and the length of the handle as in the case of the other tools were adapted
to the nature of the mineral and to the type of work, which was done
1 The German word ‘ Faust ’ signifies fist, — H. L. B,
Figs, i and 2. — Representation of the method of work-
ing in ancient Mines, according to the Corinthian
Pinakes
4 • MINING
sometimes in a standing, sometimes in a sitting, sometimes in a lying
posture. We see from the tablets that the mines were illuminated by
amphorae suspended from the roof, although the more usual method of
lighting was by lamps placed in small stone cavities. Further, boys
collected the mineral in baskets provided with a handle, which were
then tied up and passed up to other boys, who likewise passed them on
or else carried them away (see Figs, i and 2). The left side of Fig. 2
leads us to surmise that in order to descend into the mines either steps
were hewn out of the stone (perhaps ladders were used) or wooden blocks
were let into the stone.
The tunnels constructed in the rock by these simple means are often
of astonishing length. It has been computed and confirmed by observing
the marks of wedges that in even relatively soft stone -the progress made
amounted to about half an inch in twenty-four hours : in hard stone it
was not more than 25 or 30 ft. per year. This low efficiency was com-
pensated to some extent by making the tunnels very low, by working
only along the seams of the ore and by avoiding as far as possible the
removal of unnecessary stone. Consequently, the galleries and tunnels
were so narrow that a slave could squeeze himself through only with great
difficulty. In many mines, in particular in those of the Egyptians, Greeks
and Romans, children were employed, so that as little stone as possible
would have to be removed. Although the slaves must have become
weakened by their sojourn in the mines and by the unhealthy posture
during work, as well as through sickness — in lead mines particularly
through lead-poisoning — they must often have used very heavy tools.
Hammers have been found which weighed between 20 and 26 lbs.
At the same time there were no precautions against accidents. The
galleries were not propped up and therefore often collapsed, burying
workmen beneath them. In ancient mines many skeletons have been
found of slaves who had lost their lives in this way while at work. Nor
were attempts made to replenish the supply of air or to take other steps
for preserving health. Mffien the air in the mines became so hot and
foul that breathing was rendered impossible the place was abandoned
and an attack was made at some other point. These conditions must
have become still more trying wherever, in addition to the mallet and
chisel, the only other means of detaching the stone was applied, namely
fire. The mineral-bearing stone was heated and water was then poured
over it. There was no outlet for the resulting smoke and vapours.
This method of constructing tunnels and galleries is described by Pliny
somewhat as follows : ‘ Tunnels are bored into the mountains and are
carefully explored. These tunnels are called “arrugiae," little ways or
little streets. They often collapse and bury many workers. When
hard minerals occur one seeks to blast them with fire and vinegar.^
As the resulting steam and smoke often fill the tunnels, the work-
men prefer to split the rock into pieces of 150 lbs. or more, and for this
purpose they use iron wedges and hammers. ^ These pieces are removed
1 Concerning the ‘ vinegar ’ used for blasting rock, see p, 461,
^ Tlie exact sense of the Latin is doubtful. — Trans,
MINING
5
from the galleries that have been hewn out, so that an open cavern is
formed. So many of these caverns or hollows are made adjacent to
each other in the mountain that finally they collapse with a loud noise,
and so the mineral in the interior becomes exposed. Often the eagerly
sought gold vein fails to appear, and the long sustained and arduous
work which had often cost many human lives has been in vain.’
It is surprising what depths were reached by these simple means.
Figs. 3 and 4. — Spoon-shaped Miners’ Lamps of Lead
Found at Villefranche
When Diodorus relates that the Romans had mine-pits which were
‘ some stadia deep,’ he is certainly not exaggerating. ^ For example,
a copper tablet with an ancient Roman inscription has been found in a
Spanish mine at a depth of 650 ft.
That part of mining which we nowadays call ’ transport ’ was no less
simply effected. The ore W'as filled into sacks or chests 'whiich were
dragged out by children, as only they were able to make progress in the
narrow galleries with their burden. If a cavity was reached in the
interior on the way out, the ore was probably picked there and then ;
^ See p. 50 [. It is sufficiently accurate to take I stadium = 202 yards. — H.X, B.
MINING
otherwise the sorting was done above by daylight. From the size of
the bags and the specific weight of the ores it has been calculated that
the burden carried by such a child often amounted to as much as
45 lbs. It is distressing to think how many of these children must
have broken down under their heavy burdens and the whips of the
overseers. Many of the tunnels in ancient mines were so steep that
ropes must have been used for effecting transportation, just as in the
case of vertical shafts. Such ropes have, however, not been discovered.
The farther one penetrated into the interior the greater was the
chance of water channels being encountered, and hence of the mines
becoming flooded. No precautionary measures were taken against this
danger such as we should consider adequate. The water was scooped
Figs. 5, 6 and 7. — ^Miners’ Earthenware Lamps
Found, in Villefranche
out by means of vessels or leather skins which were passed from hand
to hand. The Egyptians hauled up these bags by ropes, which were
wound up on a windlass. This very ancient method of transporting
water is still used nowadays to draw water from wells. When the water
could no longer be drawn off in this way, the mines had to be allowed
to become flooded ; this often meant that the labour of many decades
and, indeed, sometimes of centuries, was lost.
The illumination of ancient mines was no less simple than all the
other arrangements. In many cases light was provided by pieces of
wood soaked in resin or fat and attached to the walls by means of lumps
of clay. Bundles of twigs were also sometimes ignited. In several ancient
Roman mines as, for example, at Villefranche, spoon-shaped miners’
lamps of lead have also been found (Figs. 3 and 4). The hollow of the
spoon was filled with oil into which a wick was immersed and then lit.
The lamp was held by a straight stem. In the same mines there have
also been found earthenware lamps which resemble in form and appear-
MINING
ance those that were used for domestic purposes (Figs. 5, 6, 7). A lamp
mentioned by Treptow and found in Tunis consisted of a double layer
of sheet-lead, which proves that these lamps were also sometimes made
of lead — probably because those of earthenware were too easily broken
during mining operations. The expense incurred in this way was of
little account at that time, but it was probably very unpleasant to have
lamps broken as the mines would be left in darkness. They were therefore
often made of more lasting material.
The art of mining appears to have made almost no technical progress
during the whole of antiquity, that is, from the date of the earliest traces
recorded to the fall of the Roman Empire. This can but increase our
wonder at the prodigious results achieved in this branch of work, both as
regards the depth of the shafts and the quantity of ore raised, results
that can be accounted for only by the very great number of human beings
sacrificed in the cause of gain.
METALS AND THEIR EXTRACTION
(METALLURGY)
T he Greek poet Hesiod, who lived round about the year 770 b.c,,
relates the well-known story of the four different ages of the
human race : the Gold, the Silver, the Bronze, and the Iron
Age, For a long time this fable was believed, and it was assumed that
man had become acquainted first with gold, then with silver, which
was followed by bronze, and finally with iron. Recent investigations
have proved that this assumption is untenable. They show that there
can be no question, among the peoples of antiquity, of any age having
been characterized by the chief use of one particular metal. In the first
place it cannot be determined which metal first became known to man.
Further, the same conditions do not hold among all peoples. Thus a
Bronze Age in the sense of Hesiod is an impossibility, for the simple
reason that there were many races among the Ancients who entirely
lacked the substances necessary for making bronze. They could there-
fore have become acquainted with bronze only if trade relationships had
existed between them and other peoples who were in possession of these
substances. But if they had already had trade relationships with other
peoples who were familiar with the extraction of iron, the Bronze Age
must, of course, have been preceded by an Iron Age in their case. On
the other hand, gold is certainly among the oldest of known metals.
For wherever it had been precipitated in the form of small particles in
streams its shimmering brightness must readily have attracted attention.
But gold in this particular form is not to be discovered everywhere, and
so not a few peoples must have known and used other metals long
before gold first met their gaze.
GOLD
In general it may be asserted that most peoples at the beginning of
their history were acquainted with gold, silver, copper, iron, lead, and,
in many cases, also tin. It has been definitely established that the
Egyptians, when they first entered, the realm of history, that is, about
3000 B.C., were familiar with gold, copper, silver, lead, and iron. Gold,
which they called ‘ nub,’ was alleged to have been discovered by Osiris
and was supplied by Nubia, the Land of Gold. As the Nubians did not
voluntarily deliver up their treasures of gold, the Egyptians were con-
tinually making warlike incursions into their country. The wealth of
8
GOLD
9
Egypt or, rather, Ethiopia, was supposed to have been so great that,
according to Herodotus’ narrative, even the prisoners were bound with
chains of gold — a fact which excited the astonishment of the ambassadors
of the Persian King Cambyses (Herodotus III, 22, 23). The stories
of Herodotus are, however, a mixture of fact and fable. As no such
golden slave-chains have ever been discovered, this tale is best consigned
to the region of fancy. Nevertheless, the riches that the Egyptians
derived from the Nubian gold mines were stupendous. Diodorus reports
that the annual yield of the Nubian gold mines at the time of Ramses II
(1300-1230 B.c.) appoached 32 million minae,that is, about £132,000,000.
A detailed description of the technical extraction of gold as practised
by the ancient Egyptians has been handed down to us by Diodorus.
Fig. 8. — Gold-washing in Egypt
Two workmen treat the gold with water in a sack which they swing to and fro in order to remove the tighter particles
of sand. The sacks probably contain sponges in which the fine particles of gold remain suspended. The tables below
seem to the author to be formed like chests or cisterns into which the water used for the washing flows by way of
the funnels indicated at the top. The water is thus collected in the chests, so that any gold still contained in it can
be extracted by repeating the operation. Painting from Beni Hasan, i6th century b.c,
Nubian gold was present in quartz in the form of veins. Slaves and
convicts worked at it in the manner already described in the section on
‘ Mining ’ by cutting passages with the help of hammers and sharp
wedges along the direction of the gold veins. Youths under seventeen
years carried away the fractured stone, which was then further broken"
up in stone mortars with the aid of iron pestles. The raw material
containing the gold was first reduced to the size of a pea. These small
pieces were next ground down to a powder in stone mills. The powder
was placed on wooden tables and washed gently with water, sponges
being used to which the free grains of gold adhered. The washing swept
away the light sand while the sand which was heavier on account of the
contained gold was left behind. This residue was then melted up with
lead in order to separate the gold from the stone. Another smelting-
process followed, during which fresh lead and common salt were added.
This stage lasted for five days. The impurities in the gold, the com-
pounds formed by it and the added ingredients, as well as the excess of
10 metaHs and their extraction
the latter, was partly sublimated and partly formed a slag with the silver
chloride, which was produced by the silver present with the gold in the
ore, and with the substance composing the smelting-pot. Pure gold was
left as a residue in the pot. Bellows w^ere used in the smelting furnaces ;
they were expanded by pulling up cords and compressed by treading
with the feet.
The extraction of gold by the peoples of the East was probably carried
out in an analogous way. Among all of them gold is to be found, partly
derived from their own sources and partly imported from Africa. Certain
countries, such as, for example, the mythical land of gold, Ophir, which
was probably situated in South Africa and from which King Solomon
procured the gold necessary to build his temple, are famous for the wealth
of gold they contained. But the technical extraction of gold had not
everywhere reached the high standard attained by the ancient Egyptians,
who, as we have seen, applied chemical and metallurgical processes.
Wherever gold was discovered as a secondary deposit, that is, already
washed out of the weather-worn stone, simpler means were used to
extract it. Strabo (XI, 2, 19) describes this method of extraction as
follows : ‘ It is related also that mountain streams carry gold down into
the valleys and that the barbarians catch it in troughs, which are pierced
with holes, and on fleeces ; hence, they say, comes the legend of the
Golden Fleece h This method of extraction is confirmed by Appian
[Bellum Mithridaticum, 103) : ' Many springs conduct gold out of
the Caucausus in the form of invisible bodies, and the inhabitants place
sheepskins with thick fleeces in the stream. They then collect from
the skins the fine particles that are held fast in them. The golden
fleece of Aeetes was perhaps something of this sort.’ Actually, the
Argonautic Expedition (about 1350 b.c.), which the Greeks undertook
to Colchis/ the land of gold, was an ordinary raiding adventure ; they
probably pursued no other purpose than of securing golden fleeces as
their booty, that is, the rams’ skins placed in the water to arrest the
golden grains. From this aspect the old Greek story of the Argonauts
gives us a remarkable insight into an old method of extracting gold,
which, moreover, up till a few decades ago was practised in a similar
way in Africa and California. The Romans used similar processes when
they plundered the Spanish gold deposits. In this case the gold existed
in the interior of mountains. The problem was first to get it into the
daylight. To achieve this a singular procedure was adopted, according
to the information of Pliny. By boring shafts one reached the interior
of the mountain, where a cave was hollowed out, whose ceiling was
supported by props. These props were afterwards made to collapse, and
in consequence the cave fell in. The rubble was then washed by means
of currents of water which were introduced into the interior of the
mountain by specially constructed leads [corrugi). The issuing waters
were distributed among numerous trenches [agogae), along which it
gently flowed. Foliage and twigs were inserted in these ditches, playing
1 Now called Mingrelia, situated in Georgia, The explanation of the Golden
Fleece is fantastic. — H. L. B.
SILVER
ir
the part of the fleece. The gold collected in them and was then melted
together. According to calculations by Breidenbach, the Romans
treated (diiefly in the Spanish gold mines) about 500 million tons of rock
in this way in order to extract the contained gold.
SILVER
Silver, also called white gold, came into use among the Egyptians
later than gold. It was probably introduced into Egypt by the
Phoenicians. An alloy of gold and silver called ‘ asem ’ was regarded
in olden times as an independent metal. This alloy, which, according
to recent analysis, contains 80 to 75 per cent, of gold and 20 to 25 per cent.
of silver, was called ‘ electrum’^ by Pliny, and represents a combination
which can be obtained directly from Nature or can be prepared artificially.
In contrast with the Egyptians the Romans, who produced it artificially,
had already recognized that ‘ asem ’ or ‘ electrum ’ w^as no independent
metal. On the other hand, native silver w'^as unknown to Pliny,
This is the more surprising as a considerable portion of the silver used by
the ancients was presumably found in the metallic state. At the
beginning of the Persian wars (490-449 b.c.) the silver mines of Attica
yielded over £100,000 worth of silver. That silver was used in Greece
very long ago may be gathered , from the fact that Homer speaks of its
uses in various connections. He relates, for example, that tlie sw'ord of
1 In the opinion of Rhousopoulos, the name (which had already been used in
ancient Greece) was due to the fact that the colour of the alloy resembled that of
amber (rjAexTQOv) ,
12 METALS AND THEIR EXTRACTION
Achilles had a silver ' haft ’ or hilt {Iliad, I, 219), and that his shield had
a silver handle {Iliad, XVIII, 480), and so forth. It is fairly safe to
assert that silver was much more widely circulated than gold among all
peoples of antiquity. Germania ^ was poorly supplied with this metal.
In the time of Tacitus there was only one solitary silver mine.
When the silver was not found in its elementary metallic state it was
obtained from argentiferous ores by metallurgical processes. No trust-
worthy information is, however, available about the form of these
processes. They are, indeed, mentioned by ancient writers but are
never accurately or minutely described ; almost the only detailed account
that has been preserved, that of Pliny,^ is so obscure and confused that
no proper idea of the method of extracting silver can be formed from it.
Pliny himself probably understood very little of it, and wrote down
vaguely only what he had heard. From his statements as well as from
those of Strabo (IV, 399, 400) it is at any rate clear that galena (lead
sulphide) containing silver was treated metallurgically, or that silver ore
was smelted with lead.
In both cases the smelting process produced lead containing silver
(workable lead). The lead was then removed by heating the mixture
on an open hearth with access of air, thus transforming the lead into
one of its oxides, red lead or litharge {WdQyvQOQ), The pure silver
remains behind. In this process there was also formed a slag {atiojQia,
containing probably about 24 per cent, of lead and spodium
{onobdi;). Analysis shows that spodium is zinc oxide, which forms as a
deposit on the upper parts of the furnace.
The purity of the silver was tested by heating. Pure silver may be
glowed in air without changing its colour. If it turns a brownish-red
when heated on an iron plate, it is, according to the view of the ancients,
not quite pure ; and if it turns black, it is impure. This observation
is quite correct, for we know that the alloys of silver with other metals,
in particular lead and copper, change colour in the manner described,
when heated in air. Nevertheless, the other metals that occur in silver
ores, as well as in lead ores containing silver, must sometimes have caused
considerable trouble. It is to be assumed that arsenic and zinc raised
difficulties which were perhaps overcome, particularly in Greece, by the
construction of special furnaces, in which they could vaporize. Various
circumstances point to this conclusion, above aU, the fact that the earthen
votive tablets, already mentioned on page 3, the Corinthian pinakes,
also exhibit line-drawings of furnaces. Moreover, in various localities
remains of these furnaces have been discovered. So far as can be recog-
nized from the Corinthian pinakes, the furnaces were fired from below
and had an opening at the top which allowed the smoke to escape and
through which the flames probably leaped forth at times. Some (Fig. 9)
seem to have been fed with fuel from below, others (Figs, ii and 12)
from above. This view is supported by the raised ledge on the side and
1 Itt ancient geography Germania refers to the region included between the North
Sea, Baltic, Vistula, Danube and Rhine.— H.L.B.
2 Hist, nat,, in particular XXXIII, 6, 31, 35, 44 ; and XXXIV, 16, 47.
COPPER 13
tlie man shown in the act of stepping up. The furnaces have an opening
in the centre which seems to pass right through and which probably
represents a muffle or a refining-hearth. Where there is no step a ladder
is used to mount the hearth. On one votive tablet (Fig. 13) a furnace
is to be seen which is apparently burnt out ; the slag is being removed
through the hollow step. In many parts, above all in Greece, the silver
was specially again purified before being worked into ornaments, coins,
and so forth. The process of refinement adopted is not known. The
slag left over from this process (at this stage called aQyvQlriQ Key%Qog, —
silver millet) was again treated by a process, also unknown, which allowed
the silver still contained in it to be extracted,
COPPER
Copper was no less widely distributed than silver. When it first
became known cannot be determined. But it is probable that many
ancient peoples knew copper long before iron. The reverse is true of the
Germanic races. They became acquainted with copper long after they
had used iron, and it is to be assumed that they never prepared it them-
selves but acquired it by trading. With this exception, however, we
find copper among all other ancient peoples, and in some cases, indeed,
in very considerable quantity, both as pure copper and also combined
with tin in its most important and much used alloy, bronze. It is
impossible to count up all the old sources of copper, as their number is
legion. The oldest copper mines of Egypt are situated on Mount Sinai
and, according to Berthelot, were started into action about 5000 B.c.
This figure is probably too high. The fact remains, however, that the
old copper mines of Sinai were still being worked in the reigir of the
Egyptian king, Thothmes III (1515-1461 b.c.). The ores of these mines
contained chiefly the green carbonate and the acid silicate of copper
(malachite andchrysocolla). The percentage of ore in the sandstone was
not large, so that to extract the copper very elaborate preparations were
necessary at the beginning. To smelt the ore furnaces of sandstone were
used, into which crucibles composed of a mixture of quartz, sand and
clay were placed. As Mount Sinai was not wooded at that time the
firewood or fuel necessary for the furnace must have been brought from
far away. Slags discovered in 1896, which are partly heavy and dark,
partly light in both colour and weight, as well as solidified glass bubbles
of very varied composition, prove that the action of the furnace was
irregular and imperfect, and that the process of extracting the copper
was not always carried out in a uniform way. No indications of the
use of bellows have been found at Mount Sinai. According to HcvSiod,
however, crucibles were later used by the Greeks, which were provided
with lateral apertures through which wind could be blown by a bellows.
Whereas sulphurous ores were often used elsewhere, only oxides were
treated metallurgically at Mount Sinai.
Ores containing sulphur were, however, worked to extract the copper
by all manner of ancient peoples. These ores, called pyrites, were trans-
formed into oxides, by being first subjected to a process of roasting.
14 METAIs AND THEIR EXTRACTION
Dioscorides has left us extensive information about this stage, which reveals
that the roasting or burning was carried out exactly after the model of
lime-burning. Furnaces or kilns were made of the material itself and,
after having been supplied with fuel, were filled with the ore to be roasted.
The fuel was then ignited and the work of the burner was devoted only
to keeping up the supply of fuel. The pyrites roasted themselves ;
the end of the process was recognized, according to Dioscorides, by the
ore having become red. The proper smelting-furnaces for copper, such
as were particularly used on the island of Cyprus, which exported great
quantities of copper to all parts of the ancient world from the earliest
times, were high cupolas fed through a furnace-mouth from above.
Into this mouth alternate layers of copper-ore and charcoal were intro-
duced. The whole mass was then again smelted, air being blown through
from below by means of bellows. This construction is thus in its essentials
similar to that of the smelting-furnaces of the large foundries of our own
times. For the rest, smelting-pots or crucibles were also used ; indeed,
in the extraction of copper very different types of furnaces seem to have
been utilized in the different countries.
In the metallurgical process of extraction a mixture of copper, slag
dross (at the mouth), spongy impurities, and a regulus of copper was
obtained. As the copper was still impure it had to be re-smelted. Pliny
relates that this was repeated again and again until the copper was of
the required purity. The re-smelting took place in furnaces of various
shapes, from which the copper was probably drawn off and solidified
by cooling with water. For trade purposes copper was prepared not
only in the form of plates but also as blocks. Like many other metal-
lurgical processes of the ancients, however, the effective yield of copper
from this process was rather unsatisfactory. Whereas only about 15 to
25 per cent, of the copper contained in the ores was extracted, the slag
sometimes contained not less than 50 per cent.
TIN
Tin, like copper, played an important part in antiquity. Without
doubt it is one of the oldest metals known at that time. The date of its
discovery is not yet definitely established. The weight of tin-ore probably
suggested that it contained a metal ; and this metal was perhaps acci-
dentally discovered while the ore was being smelted with wood or charcoal.
Tin is already mentioned in the Old Testament. All peoples of the
East were familiar with it. It was known even in countries where
no tin-ore existed, and this leads us to infer that a great amount
of tin-ore must have been imported into these countries at that
time. The fact that Herodotus makes special mention of the Tin Islands,
the Cassiterides,^ points to the same conclusion. It has not been possible
to determine their position, and, indeed, it is not certain whether the term
itaaaksQOQ actually denoted tin in Homer’s time. The first unmistakable
use of this expression for tin occurs in the first century a.d. Moreover,
besides yMaaksQog other terms were also used for tin, in particular
1 Identified by some authorities as the Scilly Islands. — H. L. B.
TIN
/A.oXv^6og. The Romans cvilledit -plumbum candidtimoTalhim. The word
sianmim, which was originally written stagmm, denoted crude lead.
In fact, tin and lead were often confused in antiquity ; this is easy
to understand seeing that analysis in our sense was unknown at that
early date and that metals often were distinguished only by their outward
appearance. Later on, however, lead and tin could be clearly distin-
guished, and Pliny states explicitly that the lead plates usecl by the
Romans for water-pipes were soldered by means of an alloy consisting
of two parts of lead and one part of tin. He also writes about the plating
of copper vessels by tin, incidentally mentioning that the weight of the
copper did not increase in the process, so that only a very thin layer of
tin could have been applied.
Tin was extracted by the ancients exclusively from stannic ores,
which were probably for the greater part derived from Britain, which
is by some regarded as the ' Islands of Tin ’, while others identify them
with India, an opinion which is based on the fact that the Sanskrit
name for tin is kastira. The Phoenicians, at any rate, obtained their
tin from India. Later, the Spanish tin mines were exploited and, after
the conquest of Britain by the Romans, particularly those in what is
now Cornwall. No direct accounts have been passed down to us of the
method by whicli tin was extracted by the ancients. From remains
of furnaces, however, it is clear that the method was a simple process
of reducing and smelting. It was carried out by heating the ore over a
wood fire, by which the contained tin oxide was reduced ; the metallic
tin thus obtained was simply smelted out.
Whether bellows were later used appears doubtful. Apertures at the
bottom of some furnaces may be regarded as wind-holes through which
air was forced in order to intensify the glow of the fire. But they may
also have served merely as a more convenient means of drawing off the
metal. Their purpose seems not yet to have been definitely establi.shed.
BRONZE
Far more important than copper and tin in themselves in ancient
times was the bronze alloy composed of both. It may very well be said,
indeed, that bronze was the characteristic feature of that epoch. Bronze
— at that time called ‘brass' and undistinguished in name from copper —
seems at first chiefly to have served the purpose of imbuing the copper
with greater hardness and firmness. This does not, however, always
appear to have been successful. For example, in ancient Thebes a
chisel has been found which is one of the earliest specimens of Egyptian
bronze, and which is so soft that, when pressed against a stone, it
simply bends back. It is composed of 94 parts of copper, 5-9 parts of
tin, and. o-i parts of iron. Later, harder bronzes were made, which
were called cJiomt in Egypt, and are in general of fairly uniform,
composition. On the average they contain 80 to 85 parts of copper
and 20 to 15 parts of tin. It is not certain who discovered bronze.
There are indications that it was perhaps first made in the valley of
i6 METALS AND THEIR EXTRACTION
the Euphrates, where it was already known about the year 2000 u.c.
The Jews may have been acquainted with a copper alloy still earlier,
for the Bible speaks of Tubal-Cain, ‘an instructor of every artificer
in brass and iron,’ but it appears doubtful whether the term ^ for
brass in this quotation (from Genesis iv. 22) really signifies bronze.
The Greeks and Romans also made very extensive use of bronzes,
which were, indeed, an important factor of civilization in ancient
times. On account of its low melting point, which lies between 786°
and 900° Centigrade, and its beautiful colour, as well as the ease with
which its properties could be modified by altering the proportion of
the contained tin, it enjoyed wide popularity. Concerning the technical
properties of ancient bronzes it is to be remarked that when they
contained less than 5 per cent, of tin, they could be shaped while
cold. Bronzes containing 10 parts of tin were chiefly used for making
tools, and those containing more than 15 parts could be used only
for casting purposes, on account of their hard and brittle quality.
The melting-points of various ancient bronzes are as follows :
Bronze containing 8 parts of tin . . . . 900° C.
13 w 835^0. -
,, ,, 25 ,, ,, .... 786° C.
Detailed analyses of ancient bronzes have been carried out by
Berthelot, Andree, Rhousopoulos and others. They show that ancient
bronzes contained not only copper and tin, but also other very different
metals, although only in small proportions. These admixtures were
due to the imperfect development of metallurgical processes at that
time. In the following table we give some analyses of antique bronzes
which exhibit their varying composition and indicate the manifold
variety of admixed metals.
We first give analyses of Assyrian bronzes now in the British Museum
(according to Fellenberg) :
Name of Object.
Copper.
Tin.
I.eacl,
Iron. 1
Anti-
mony.
Arsenic.
Nickel.
I. Thick grey rod ....
88'03
o-il
3-28
4-06
3-92
0-60
_
2. Bent rod . . . ...
88-84
12-70
0-28
a trace
■ —
; — ,
o-i8
3. Ornament on a domestic
utensil . . . . .
86-99
12-33
0-38
__
0-30
4. .Round pieces from a bowl .
80-84
18-37
0-43
0-16
0-20
These analyses are of particular importance because, in addition to
the metals arsenic, antimony, iron and nickel contained presumably as
impurities in one of the bronzes (No. i), there is so high a percentage of
lead that we must conclude that it was intentionally added as an
ingredient. According to von Bibra, no lead occurs in the bronzes of the
true bronze period. This comparatively large proportion of lead leads
^ The German Bible uses the word ‘ Erz which may stand for ore, metal, brass
or bronze. — -H.L.B.
BRONZE ’ 17
him to conclude that these bronzes were made after the true bronze period,
indicating that a higher degree of civilization had already been reached.
Later Assyrian bronzes have a proportion of lead which varies between
7 per cent, and 9 per cent.
The following table gives further analyses of different ancient bronzes
(according to Ledebur) ;
Object,
Copper.
Tin.
Zinc,
Lead.
Iron.
Nickel.
Silver.
Phos-
phoru.s.
Dagger (old Egyptian) ^ .
85-0
14-0
__
I-IO
.
Arrow head (old Egyptian)
76-6
22-2
—
—
—
—
. —
—
Bronze bowl from Nineveh
liandle of a vessel from
80 -8
18-4
' —
0-4
0-2
0-4
—
__
Mycenae . ...
89-7
lO-I
. —
— -
—
— .
— .
— .
Coin (old Attic)
88-46
10-04
—
1-50
—
—
" — .
Coin (Athenian) ...
76-41
7 - 0.5
—
16-54
—
__
— ■
— , ■
Statue of Victory (Brescia)
80-8
19-4
1-9
7.7
—
—
— -
Coin (of Titus Claudius) .
81-4
8-6
—
, —
—
—
—
—
Coin (of Nero) ....
81-1
i-i
17-8
—
— .
—
—
—
Coin (of Diocletian) . .
95-8
2-2
— .
1-9
—
—
— ■■
^ There is a remarkable coincidence between the chemical compositioir of this
old Egyptian .dagger and that of the bronzes contained in a prehistoric musical
wind-instrument discovered at Daberkow in the district of Demmin, Hither
Pomerania. The analysis of the latter was given by Rathgen as ; copper, 85 -03 per
cent. ; tin, 13-96 per cent.; other metals (lead, iron, cobalt), i-i per cent.
In general, silver does not occur in ancient bronzes. In later Roman
times there occur, however, bronzes containing silver, which were used
for making ‘silver’ coins, but which contained so little silver that, to
be correct, we must class them among bronze coins. In fact, the analyses
of Roman silver coins, which were carried out by Klaproth, Thomson,
and others, present an excellent picture of the decline of the Roman
Empire. As its power waned, so the content of the copper in its coins
increased. Towards the end they were made of a bronze containing
silver, and finally (under the Emperor Gallienus) they were made only
of copper and plated with tin. It has already been pointed out above
that Pliny mentions the art of tin-plating as practised in Rome.
As is evident from the last table above, ancient bronzes were found
to contain no zinc at all except in a few very rare cases, as for example
in an ancient Egyptian statue which is at present in the Germanischcs
Museum at Nuremberg, More sensible quantities of zinc do not occur
in regular proportions in old bronzes until the time of the Romans.
This leads to the conclusion that zinc was not added intentionally to
the alloy before this comparatively late date. These alloys owe their
origin to the fact that to obtain different tints of bronze the mineral
calamine ^ derived from Spanish mines was added to the raw material
used in making the bronze.
^ Latin cadmla, from Greek (ge) caclmcan (eartli).
i8 METALS AND THEIR EXTRACTION
ZINC
Pure zinc was altogether unknown to the ancients. The Romans
did, indeed, use the natural zinc-ore (the carbonate) in the form of
calamine (see above) for manifold purposes, but they did not know how
to extract the metallic element from it. Besides using calamine for
preparing certain bronzes in which zinc was to be an ingredient, they
used it to extract zinc oxide (‘ cadmia ’) and chiefly to manufacture brass.
But ‘ cadmia ' was also used to denote an ore whose exact composition
has not yet been determined. It is probable that brass owes its discovery
to the accidental smelting of copper-ore with calamine, the result of
which was the beautiful yellow alloy. According to pseudo-Aristotle
{de mirab. aus., lxxii/63), the Moss5moikoi who inhabited the shores of
the Black Sea are the discoverers of brass. Some hold the opinion that
the word ‘Messing’ (German for brass) is due to these Mossynoikoi,
but its derivation from the Latin massa, that is mass, seems more likely
to be correct. All that has been definitely established is that brass was
known at the time of the Roman Empire. It is mentioned by Pliny,
Vergil, Strabo, Horace, Cicero and Plautus. Whether the alloys men-
tioned by Homer, Plato, and so forth were actually brass is uncertain.
The aurichalcum {dgeixalxog) of the ancients was probably nothing
other than brass. The identity of the substance which this term signifies
has long been a subject of discussion. In the opinion of the author there
are two facts that speak in favour of the interpretation ‘ brass.’ In the
first place the grammarian Sextus Pomponius Festus (probably of the
second century a.d.) describes the preparation of ‘ aurichalcum.’ He
states that it was prepared by throwing cadmia on to copper. Concerning
cadmia it is to be remarked that it is an ‘ earth.’ It is important to note
this, as it precludes the notion of cadmia being an ore in the sense of
the ancients. So the reference is to zinc oxide ; this naturally produces
brass when smelted with copper, A second proof that ‘ aurichalcum ’
stands for brass is furnished by Blumner, who refers to a metal plate
found between Bdle and Augst ^ and bearing the actual inscription
‘ aurichalcum.’ Its analysis, according to Fellenberg, showed that it
contained a high percentage of zinc. The fact that ‘ aurichalcum ’ was
sometimes also used to denote other alloys is very well explained by
Percy, who points out that even nowadays the terms brass and. bronze
are continually confused by the technical worker as well as by the layman.
This is particularly so in the case of metal ornaments.
Certain circumstances make it probable that the Romans were also
acquainted with an alloy of zinc and iron, ‘ hard zinc ’ (Diergart) .
LEAD
In contrast with zinc, lead played an extremely important part over
the whole period of ancient history. It was known even to the early
Egyptians, Indians and Jews. The first Pharaohs who gained victories
1 In Switzerland on the left bank of the Rhine. — H.L.B.
LEAD
IC)
in Asia, had some of their tributcPpaid in the form of lead by the
conquered peoples. Thothmes III brought home lead as a spoil of victory ;
this lead was apparently partly used as roofing, as seems to be borne
out by a picture in the temple of Ramses III, in which long plates with
rounded corners are depicted and on which is written the word taht
(lead), in hieroglyphics. According to a calculation by Lepsius these
plates have a surface lo by 5| sq. in., a thickness of about ro-hi.,
and a weight of about 4 pounds each. In India, too, lead was used for
a variety of purposes, sometimes medicinally, sometimes for keeping
the threads taut in weaving, sometimes for preparing cosmetics, and so
forth. The Romans exploited the lead works of Spain. At the time of
Titus no less than 40,000 slaves were occupied in working them. In the
Greek lead mines there were also as many as 20,000 slaves at certain times.
Among the Greeks and the
Romans lead was used for
a great variety of purposes.
It served to fix clamps
into stones, for making
water-pipes, as an ingredi-
ent of alloys used to make
coins, for medical purposes,
to prepare lids for medical
boxes, to cast small statues
and children's toys,^ to
prepare plummets (sound-
ing-lines for ships), for
sling-bullets [glans missilis,
lit. an acorn that is to be
hurled) for purposes of
war, and, indeed, even for
making false dice. Fur-
thermore, it was used for making numerous implements — incidentally,
a dangerous practice, particularly when it was applied to making
domestic utensils and vessels. The physiologist Robert has proved
that lead-poisoning was already widely prevalent among the ancients,
and, indeed, that the many childless marriages of the Romans at the
time of the Empire are largely to be traced back to the action of foods
and drinks which had become tainted with lead owing to their having
been preserved in leaden vessels. This produced chronic lead-poison-
ing and consequently sterility.
The extraction of lead in ancient times was effected by processes of
which no account has been transmitted to us. But it is immediately
clear to anyone who is at all conversant with the metallurgy of lead that
the processes must have been practically the same as that described
above for the extraction of silver from galena (lead sulphide) . The galena
was roasted and then reduced by smelting in furnaces, for which purpose
J Lead soldiers were used by the Spartans as early as in the sixth century
before Christ ; they were made of pure lead, according to Rhousopoulos.
Fig. 14. — Relief Decorations in head on a Roman
Coffin. Provincial Museum, Treves
20
meAls and their extraction
green wood or charcoal (or both) was used. Green wood was used
because it developed large quantities of smoke and gases, which were
thought to exert a favourable influence. Probably beUows were used to
produce stronger currents of air. The slag and the lead were drawn off
and separated mechanically. The crude lead obtained was again smelted.
The slag still contained a fair percentage of lead, a fact of which the ancients
became aware later and which led to its being collected from the dumps
at Laurion, as reported by Strabo, and subjected to smelting over
again. It is probable that lead-ores free from silver also served for the
extraction of lead. The process of roasting was not always necessary ;
it could be dispensed with, for example, when the galena contained oxides
of lead. Whether this was actually recognized or whether the ores w^ere
always roasted remains uncertain. An ancient Roman lead furnace
which has been discovered was found to be sunk right into the ground.
It was about ii ft. deep and 8| ft. wide at the top. The walls, which
were made of a fire-proof mixture of brick-dust and clay, were 5-| in.
thick. The crude lead flowed out of a drain situated at the bottom
into a large shallow recipient, from which the slag was scooped off, while
the lead was run off into smaller crucibles to be re-smelted or separated
from the contained silver,
IRON
The importance of iron in ancient times was somewhat overshadowed
among many peoples by that of other metals, such as copper and
lead. Although iron may be fairly easily prepared, as it is only
necessary to produce the comparatively low temperature of 700° C.,
the most ancient iron implements were probably meteorites. It has
been doubted whether the hardness of meteoric iron did not prevent
its being worked; it is not at all necessary to imagine that a need
for proper chisels or similar tools was felt, for a meteoric stone
manipulated by hand constitutes a good hammer. Moreover, it can
be sharpened on a stone, and so forth. Various ancient terms, such
as the ancient Egyptian name baaenepe, ‘ gift of heaven,' and the
Greek term aidrjQog, lend support to the view that meteoric iron
once had a certain importance. At any rate, it is certain that in the
form of meteoric stones it was known to the ancients ; meteoric iron
has been found in prehistoric tombs. There are even indications that
the ancient Egyptians made use of such iron. In May, 1837, J. R. Hill
discovered in a stone rabbet of the great pyramid of Gizeh a piece of
iron which must have been placed there during the fourth dynasty, that
is, a little after the year 2700 b.c. This piece of iron contains nickel,
a circumstance which would favour the view that it is meteoric iron,
were it not that it also contains carbon in chemical combination. This
find at least proves that iron was known to the Egyptians at that time.
This is corroborated by a later discovery at Abydos by Fhnders Petrie.
We have definite information about the length of time iron was
known to the ancient Indians. An iron industry existed in India probably
IRON
21
in the year 2500 b.c. and certainly in 1500 b.c. The very fact that the
Sanskrit word ajas is undoubtedly related to the old Gothic a /s, which
later led to the German Eisen, justifies the assumption that the Indo-
Germanic races must have been familiar with iron before they separated
(1500 B.C.). C. R. von Schwarz has found in the Province of Rewah in
Central India great heaps of cinder and slag covering many square miles,
testifying to the very flourishing state to which the iron industry must
once have attained in ancient India. At the same time specimens of
worked iron have been discovered of enormous dimensions ; this is the
more wonderful as even nowadays, in the age of the steam-hammer,
pieces of this size can be produced only in the largest workshops.
Such colossal pieces of iron could never be worked in the small furnaces
in use in India at the present time. The greatest rehc of ancient Indian
iron work still left to us is the Kutub column near Delhi. It weighs
more than 17 tons and is composed of almost chemically pure iron, as
has been shown by analysis. Its height is 23 ft. above the ground,
and it is probably formed of very many blocks that have been forged
together. Nevertheless it nowhere exhibits a seam which would betray
I welding. An inscription which has been cut into the column indicates
1 that it was completed in the ninth century b.c.
It is very remarkable that, in spite of the long time that the column
has been standing, it has up to the present exhibited no sign of rust,
This was formerly ascribed to a layer of fat which was supposed to have
been smeared over the whole length of the column, which is estimated
at 52 feet, for it is sunk far into the ground. This view is unlikely, as
such a layer of fat would certainly have been washed off in the course of
centuries. Others ascribe the absence of rust to the dryness of the air.
It is much more probable, however, that it is due to the extraordinary
purity of the iron. Analysis, such as that of Percy, has proved its high
degree of purity. In 1891 the present author, in conjunction with
Professor von Klobukow, prepared a sample of chemically pure .iron by
electrolysis in the Electrochemical Laboratory of the Technical High
School at Munich. All efforts to make this sample rust failed.
Chemically pure iron does not, then, possess the property of rusting ;
this has since been confirmed by others. The fact that the ancients
knew how to manufacture iron that has not rusted up to the present
time receives further support from finds made in a quite different locality.
In Oseberg an old Viking ship was found, whose wooden parts were
fastened together by iron nails which are still bright and beautifully
preserved. This ship, which is now preserved in the National Museum
in Oslo, was examined by Gustafson, who could not, however, ascertain
the reason for the absence of rust. This was found — ^by a special
commission, appointed later for the purpose — to be due to the purity
of the iron. For the rest, it must be remarked that means of pre-
venting rust were also known to the ancients. Discoveries made at the
Roman fort of Saalburg, near Bad Homburg and Frankfort-on-the-
Main, prove that in the time of the Romans vivianite (a mineral containing
iron phosphate) was used as a protection against rust, and Pliny mentions
22 METALS AND THEIR EXTRACTION
a whole series of similar substances, such as minium (red lead), white
lead, gypsum, bitumen and liquid tar.
Fig. 15. — Prehistoric Blast-furnace (Belgium)
H is the interior, lined with clay, in which the smelting is effected, and into which the wind blows through the canal
lined with stones. A bellows was not used. The stone brim C keeps the flames convergent
Besides wrought-iron, cast-iron was also known in India 3,000 years
ago. Tombs of about the
• r ' ^
‘ 3- 'iu East besides the Indians, and
was used for making articles
’^^•4'': /|H|P of the most varied kind.
The Egyptian king Thothmes
m y^-v brought back from his
campaigns great quantities
'i 4 spears and other
4, weapons, etc. But these are
a)”V proofs of the high
reached by the iron
■ industry in Asia. A more
powerful indication is given
exported in great quantities
to other countries. Once
again it was the enterprising
Phoenicians who had chief
control of the iron trade.
Fig. 16. — Prehistoric Pit Furnace (Fpernay, Marne)
The furnace has been dug out of the base of a hill, lined with clay,
and after having been filled with the ore, covered with loam or
mud. Ignition was effected through the holes punctured in the
clay, which also caused a draught of air
IRON
23
It is also very probable that the earliest iron in Germania was im-
ported from Asia. The appearance and the composition of iron of the
year 900 B.c. leads to this conclusion. Later on, iron production was
introduced into Germania itself and was by no means uncommon. In
the same way, the Greeks and the Romans probably became acquainted
commerce before they began . ‘ \ {
to prepare it themselves. ” >'
we trace the causes of this
phenomenon we find that
they arise from the follow-
ing circumstances. It has
already been shown above
what an important position
was occupied by copper
during the whole of anti- •
quity. To reduce copper-ores a temperature of 1,100 C. is necessary.
This is probably the highest temperature attained by the ancients
in their metallurgical processes. The construction of all the furnaces
Fig. i 8.— Bloomery Pot from Lower Lusatia
Consisting of a hole made in the earth, into which slag was melted; this
formed the wall of the pot, an aperture for blowing being loft at the
top and another for drawing off the molten product at the bottom
24 METALS AND THEIR EXTRACTION
that are known to be of that time leads us to infer that, in spite of the
general use of beUows later, no higher temperatures were reached. Now,
pig-iron is produced where iron which has been reduced and is poor in
carbon takes up more carbon from the added aUoy and from the gases
present in the furnace at a temperature of 1,225° C. On cooling, this
Fig. 19.-— 'Roman Bloomeries from Hiittenberg in. Carinthia
The less deep pit probably served for roasting the ore, the deeper one, lined with clay, for the actual blooniery process
carbon partly separates out as graphite and partly forms a carbide. As
the temperature of 1,225° C. could not be reached, no pig-iron could be
manufactured. The reduction of iron-ore occurs at 700° C. The product
that is obtained at this temperature is wrought-iron or steel. Whether
the one or the other was
formed probably depended
in the main on chance. At
any rate the use of the
same ores and the same
fuel in the same furnaces
would probably have led to
a product of uniform com-
position. A proof of the
correctness of this view is
again given by the column
of Kutub. It is hardly
possible that masses of iron
greater than 55 lbs. were smelted at one and the same time in
the ancient Indian furnaces used to supply the iron for the column.
As the latter weighs about 17 tons it must be formed of a great number
of smaller pieces welded together. Nevertheless, it exhibits a uniform
composition throughout, which has suggested to some investigators, for
example, C, R, von Schwarz, the opinion that it must have been formed
Fig. 20. — Prehistoric Iron Smelting Works at lolenze
ill Carniola
The clay nozzles are probably blast pipes, and the trough is probably
inclined so as to allow the slag to flow away more easily
IRON
35
of a single block. But nowhere have traces been found of constructions
which would make the preparation of so vast a piece of iron in a single
process in one furnace seem probable.
In ancient times the smelting of
iron from its ores was carried out by
the process which we usually call
direct extraction (Catalan method)
Fig. 21. — A Corsican Bloomery
Fig. 22 . — A Catalan Bloomery
nowadays. We still find among savage races of the present day examples
of the primitive method, for they use the same furnaces as were employed
in the earliest times (Figs.
15-18). A primitive fur-
nace was used which often
consisted of only a pit sunk
into the ground, which was
lined with fire-proof material
such as clay or bricks or a
mixture of both. The fur-
nace was then fed with ore
and fuel, the latter probably
consisting almost entirely of
charcoal. A wood-fire was
probably used to start the fuel burning. The iron was in these cases left in
the furnaces and removed when cold. More often, however, it was run off
through a sloping groove at
the bottom of the furnace.
Later, the walls were
made higher and bellows
were added (Figs. 20-23).
The bellows that were used
at the time of Thothmes
III are known from the
discoveries in Theban
tombs. There is a picture
of a sort of bloomefy which
is kept in action by two
bellows devices (Fig. 24).
The ores lie in a pit ; over it is a mound with holes from vdiich the flames
shoot forth. We must therefore imagine ore and charcoal to be added to
Fig. 24. — A supposed Bloomery in ancient Egypt
26 METALS AND THEIR EXTRACTION
the top of the pile and to sink in gradually as the metal (in this case, gold)
melted out. The bellows are leather skins, which are fastened to a frame
to hold them in position. They are compressed by treading and are
expanded by cords which are pulled upwards. A draught of air is intro-
duced into the furnace by means of clay pipes. The picture also displays
in the background a basket filled with wood-charcoal (Fig. 24).
Generally, the iron flows out, as already mentioned, through the exit
channel and collects in the
form of ‘ bloom ’ on the
floor of the receiving pit.
The lumps of bloom, of
which many are still found
in deserted smelting works
of the ancients, weigh from
15 to 55 lbs. (Figs. 25 and
26) . They were covered by
slag, which flowed out
simultaneously and which
was either scooped off or
knocked off when cold. The
process of making iron and
steel was always effected in
one stage. According to
Aristotle it is only in India
that fused iron was first pre-
pared and afterwards sub-
jected to a fresh treatment.
In general the extraction
of iron seems not to have
been improved upon in the
course of time, if we dis-
regard the increase of size
and height of the furnaces,
which gradually attained
greater and greater dimen-
sions, so that eventually, in-
stead of the original simple
Fig. 25.— Crude Bloom (i, 2. 3) and Worked Bloom hearths, there were proper
rrom tire Excavations of Khorsabad Cupolas Or blast-furnaces.
The holes in these lumps of crude bloom were to enable them to be ni-ir- Vmn-ti
strimg up on ropes so as to be transportable by animals or men ^ ^0111 tuese OIU IlUge Smeir-
ing-furnaces of the present
day evolved (Fig. 27) . In isolated instances coke or lignite (browm coal)
was used instead of charcoal to fire the furnaces, as, for example, am,ong
the Chinese. Theophrastus also (fourth century b.c.) mentions that the
metallurgists in Elis and Liguria made copious use of a coal which
occurred there naturally. The masses of bloom extracted passed from
the iron works into the hands of traders and were transformed only
at their destination into weapons, tools, and so forth, by being re-
OTHER METALS
smelted and re-forged. Certain kinds of iron were particularly popular
among some peoples ; for example, the Romans had a special liking
for iron from Elba and later for iron from the Noric provinces'^,
after they had been conquered. The number of ancient iron
works and iron relics
discovered is extra- .'iocm-
ordinarily great. In
the burial-ground of
Hallstatt several thou-
sand specimens of iron
have been found, and
in the Jura Mountains
alone over 230 iron
pits have been dis- 26.— Re-forged Bloom in the Romano-Germanic
covered. Museum at Mainz
OTHER METALS
The other metals known to the ancients were of considerably less
importance to them than those already discussed. Mercury was known
to them, but was probably
used only very little in the
pure state. It was chiefly
employed in the form of the
sulphide, cinnabar, which
served as a red pigment -
It is also probable that it
was applied in Spain to
extract gold by making it
form an amalgam with it.
For both mercury and gold
occur in Spain, and, further,
Vitruvius relates that the
gold from the garments
which had been interwoven
with gold thread could be
recovered by reducing the
garments to ash in a crucible
and treating the ash with
mercury, which took all the
gold. A^en this amalgam
was pressed through the
pores of a cloth bag the
gold remained behind. Like
mercury, antimony and
Fig. 27. — An Isolated Ancient Blast Furnace from arsenic were probably also
Ore Deposits in Carinthia known only ill their sulphur
H = hearUi. S = pit. WK = wind-canal (draught bole). COmpOUnds. Whether plati-
28 metAls and their extraction
niim as such was known to the ancients appears doubtful. It is disputed
by von Lippmann. It may have been mistaken for silver in isolated
instances and have been worked as such. Berthelot investigated a box,
of Egyptian origin, ornamented with inscribed hieroglyphics, which
belonged to Queen Shaperapit, the daughter of Psammetichus I in
the seventh century b.c. He found that the inscription was made of
platinum containing a fair percentage of iridium. As platinum was not
known to occur in Africa, the metal was probably introduced from
elsewhere. Berthelot assumes that it was washed out of Nile sand
together with gold.
METAL-WORKING
N O use could be made of the metals in the state in which they
were found in Nature or in which they were obtained metal-
lurgically from their ores. They had therefore to be subjected
to particular methods of treatment before jewellery, tools, household
utensils and other articles of the most varied kind could be made from
them. This treatment was sometimes mechanical, sometimes chemical.
Whereas the mechanical process served the purpose of bringing the
metal into a suitable form, the chemical treatment was applied to effect
a change in appearance, particularly of the surface, or to join pieces of
metal, as in the case of soldering, which depends on the formation of
alloys.
In both these methods of treatment, the mechanical and the chemical,
the peoples of even the most remote antiquity possessed an extraordinary
technique. They knew how to make use of the property of extensibility,
especially of the precious metals, not only by increasing their surfaces
through hammering and embossing, but also by forcing them to assume
particular forms by the same means. The use of casting for producing
new forms probably originated later. The oldest images, such as the
statues of gods and so forth, were modelled in clay or carved in wood and
then covered with thin gold foil. To make the pieces of foil adhere to the
model and also to make them join up riveting and probably also welding
was applied. Moreover, the gold foil was sometimes hammered into the
model with the help of artificially made corners and edges — a method
which has been found to occur among nearly all the most ancient
races.
METAL LEAF AND EMBOSSING
Among metals gold possesses the property of ductility to a particu-
larly marked degree. It is therefore not surprising that this property
was early recognized and exploited. Gold-leaf, that is, gold which has
been beaten out into thin sheets by continued hammering, occurs almost
everywhere in prehistoric times. Such gold was used to make magnificent
goldsmith's work even in the year 3500 b.c., as is proved by an ancient
Egyptian necklace at present in the Berlin Museum. About the seune
time objects of the most diverse description were covered with gold foil,
and as early as 2600 b.c, proper gilding with the help of gold-leaf occurs
in the Egyptian kingdom ; that is, the gold is no longer attached by
riveting or welding, but use is made of its property of adhesion. For
example, wood is covered with wax, on which the gold-leaf is laid and
METAL-WORKING
f
30
to which it then simply adlieres. In the case of objects of other material
a layer of stucco is first applied. This is painted and the gold-leaf is
then superposed on it, as in our modern method of gilding ceilings.
The property of adhesion is also the basis of making gold-fillings in teeth ;
gold-leaf is pressed or hammered into the tooth. It has been proved
that this was practised by the ancients, and was universally adopted later.
It is remarkable that this method of filling teeth was also prevalent
Fig. 28. — The Workshop of a Goldsmith
On the left is a gold-beater — Picture taken from a grave in Saqqarab (= Saccara)
among the original Aztecs in Ecuador, where Saville, in pursuing
researches under the auspices of Columbia University, discovered skulls,
in some of which the teeth were filled with cement and in others with
gold. The ancient Egyptians were able to beat out gold to leaf as thin
as that made in the eighteenth Fig. 30.— Melting Metal in Egypt by means
century of our era. Berthelot t i n t ° ^ r
. j In the left top corner are implements which, according
found from measurements that toTheohald, must be interpreted as the anvU, form, and
, , , Y r j. hammering stone of a goldsmith. (Notice the frame, which
such gold leaves of the twelfth consists of alternate layers of parchment and gold)
and thirteenth dynasties (about
2000-1800 B.c.) were only -ooi mm. thick (about qTibTnnr O-f an inch).
Silver, like gold, was also hammered out to thin sheets ("OOi to *0025 mm.).
TOat method was used by the ancient Egj^tians and other ancient
peoples to make such thin gold leaves ? Pictures from a grave at Saqqarah
(Fig. 28), which date hack to about 2500 b.c., and others from the tomb
of the Egyptian dignitary Rekhmara (about 1450 B.c.) (Fig. 29), must
be interpreted, according to Theobald, as representing the goldsmith’s
art (see also Fig. 30) . On a stone, which also serves as anvil, the so-called
In the left top corner are implements which, according
to Theobald, must be interpreted as the anvil, form and
hammering stone of a goldsmith. (Notice the frame, which
consists of alternate layers of parchment and gold)
METAL LEAF AND EMBOSSING 31
‘ form/ in this case a pile consisting of alternate layers of gold-leaf and
pieces of skin, is placed. The gold-beater holds this form with his left hand
and manipulates with his right the heavy stone with which he strikes
the form. The method is thus identical with that still used in the gold-
smith’s workshop, except that the stone is now replated by a hammer ;
and whereas nowadays the pile of gold-leaf and skins which constitute
the form is made fairly high, it was at that time kept low and consisted
only of a few layers. We do not know what kinds of skins were used.
It is hardly likely that the ancients used the same skin as the modern
Fig, 32.—- Roman Gold-beater, probably pre-
paring an Ingot
(Museum of the Vatican)
gold-beater, namely, that prepared
from a bullock’s ciecum. Maspero
holds the opinion that parchment
was used, that is, asses’ skin. This
view is shared by Wilkinson.^
The preparation of the gold-foil to be hammered into leaf is nowadays
carried out by casting the gold into ingots, that is, into oblong masses,
which are then rolled out into long narrow thin plates. The metal was
probably prepared in a similar way by the ancient Egyptians. Con-
cerning the casting and the apparatus involved there are still preserved
pictures which we shall discuss in detail later when we come to the section
oil * Casting in Metal’, p, 54.
1 'The Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians, London, 1878, Vol. II, p. 3-
Fig. 3 1. —Colossal Bronze
Statue of Hercules which has
been entirely gilt by being
covered with gold-leaf. Roman
work
(Rome, Museum of the Vatican)
32 METAL-WORKING
As we find either relics of gold-leaf or reports of its use among all
peoples of antiquity, those of the Near East, the Jews, the Indians and
so forth, it must be assumed that it was prepared in the same way as by
the Egyptians, owing to the trade relationships of that time and to the
fact that many technical arts were thus disseminated from race to race.
Many peoples that used gold-leaf may also have drawn their supplies
from foreign countries. The Chinese, whose civilization is largely based
on the apphcations of
paper, probably used thin
sheets of black paper in
place of parchment.
Gold-leaf was very
widely distributed among
the Greeks and the
Romans. The former used
it even in the age of
Homer, that is, probably
about 850-800 B.c. The
‘ form ' was not composed
of gold leaves and skin,
but probably of alternate
layers of gold sheets and
copper foil. For about
A.D. 75 Dioscorides writes
(V, 91) that to prepare
copper vitriol it was also
possible to use the filings
from the copper leaves
between which gold-leaf
was beaten [Kmibayp alg
nEQiexo fj,eva ra
TtaraXa eXavvami). Both
the Greeks and the
Romans had various terms
for gold plates and gold-
leaves. The Rom a n s
wrong, for the counterpart pieces are missing, as also the funnel, and USed different namCS, aC-
the canals, air-pipes, etc. Moreover, the form resembles those used for
embossing up till recent times, and the objects depicted in these forms COrCling tO tne tlllClineSS
were always produced by embossing. The picture is two-thirds of the gOld-lcaf Pliny
relates (XXXIII,’ 61) that
from one ounce (30-59 grams) of gold it was possible to beat 750 and more
leaves having a length of side equal to the width of four fingers (i digitus =
•0185 metres, i.e. about -73 in.). Clarac (see below) assumes a value
that differs only inappreciably from this. Thus the thinnest leaves
were about rfU- mm. thick, or iTr-fflirff in. ; so that thej^ were about
thirty times as thick as the best gold leaves made nowadays (which are
less than g-„-Va- mm. thick). From experiments which Clarac had made
to test Pliny’s statements, he arrived at the following remarkable table.
Figs. 33 and 34. — Two Sides of a Granite Form used
to emboss various Pieces of Jewellery
METAL LEAF AND EMBOSSING
giving a comparison between the goldsmith’s art in ancient Roman and
in modern times. It must be remarked that the leaves of -oooiS mm.
thickness represent a particularly good result not commonly achieved. ■
No. of Roman
leaves from
one Roman
ounce.
No. of Paris
leaves from
one Roman
ounce.
Length of
side (in
Roman
fingers).
Area in
sq. ems.
Total surface
of the leaves
in square
metres.
Weight of
leaf in
grms.
Thickness of
leaf in
750
7.50
750,000
427.733
4-00
6-72
54 -3904
I53'935i
4.04185
6-58303
'O363
'6374
•0003
■00018
The hammer used by the Romans to beat the gold probably resembled
the modern goldsmith’s hammer, although it is not definitely establisiied
whether the only preserved picture of a gold-beater [anrifex hrattearins)
■ on a relief in the Vatican (in which the second word is spelt brattiarius)
represents the actual beating-out of the form (see Fig. 32, p. 31). It may
represent the preliminary stage of preparing long narrow gold bands, the
so-called ingots. As the modern gold-beater stands while hammering the
gold and is probably only
able in this position to
strike the strong but elastic
blow, which alone prevents
the thin gold leaves from
tearing, it .seems most im-
probable to the author that
the ancient goldsmiths,
who also produced very fine
leaves, performed this work
while seated. Tn this pos-
ture the strength and elas-
ticity of the blows would
be considerably reduced.
Nor is the hammer in this
picture being used to de-
liver an elastic blow such
as comes out quite clearly
in the ancient Egyptian
sketches, in which the gold-
smith is shown kneeling.^
Be.sides gold and silver, other metals were also made into thin leaves
by hammering, and at the same time often brought into a definite shape
or embossed,'^ Plates were made, also useful articles and objects ol art.
For making plates an anvil was used, on which the metal was hammered
1 Concerning the use of the scraps left over from the hammering of gold and
silver for th(' production of colours, see p. 193.
Gk. T0Qevfi\ru from roQs^eiv, to bore; according to O. Midler, Nandhiich
dey Archdolugie, it was a Greek invention. Lat. caelahira,
' T.a.s.— 3
hiG. 35. — Fragment of Limestone on which is a
drawing representing Coppersmiths embossing a
Vessel
Found at Der el-Modiaa. Width ii eras. Berlin Museum,
Egyptian Department
METAL-WORKING
34
out to the desired thinness. For embossing, forms or moulds of wood
or stone (Figs. 33, 34 and 39) were used, over which the sheet of metal
was superposed or into which it was laid and then hammered by a metal
Fig. 37.— Embossing large Vessels
111 the centre a lar!?e piece is apparently being emljossecl over a form. The author is of the opinion that the shape
of the hanmier (round corners) shows that embossing is being performed. On the right the embossed articles are
. probably being polished
or thickened edges, as is also usual nowadays, in order that the metal
may not be damaged by sharp edges (see Figs. 36 and 37). Difficulties
were at first encountered in embossing large objects. Separate parts
Fig. 36. — Attic Phiale representing the Process of Embossing in Bronze.
Note the form of the hammer with its rounded and thickened ends. Berlin, Altes Museum, Antiquariurn
or wooden hammer, depending on the metal composing the sheet, until
it had acquired the form of the mould. The hammer often had rounded
-The Sword of Tiberius
It was found on. August lo, 18.(8, iu Muinz. Loiigth = 16 im'hc^
VicUh =“ a-8 inches
Fig. 38.r
An excclleul cxainpli' of Koinan embossing.
during the further course of the work by being filled with pitch or, as
Rhousopoulos has shown by analysis, wax. Faults in embossing, such
as parts that have been hammered out too far, were corrected by using
punches on which the too prominent or too deep parts could be hammered
back. To prevent tearing in this process and to soften the blow the
interior was in this case also filled with pitch. By this process the ancients
produced vessels, fastenings, tripods, goblets, plates, statuettes and so
forth, some of wliich were entirely made by embossing, whereas others
METAL LEAF AND EMBOSSING
were therefore embossed and afterwards riveted together. Later, how-
ever, the ancients learned how to emboss whole vessels, pitchers, goblets
and so forth, in one piece. A further advance in the art of metal-working
was made by embossing metal by freehand, in which the form or mould
was no longer used and which required a highly developed technique.
A drawing was made, according to which the expert worker modelled the
object by shaping the reverse side by means of hammers and other tools.
The parts which have been embossed were then protected from injury
METAL-WORKING
Fig. 39. — Ancient Egyptian Embossing
Mould
(Rome, Museum of the Vatican)
For figures made of gold plate. Hard yellowish stone
1-9 X 1-7 inch. Berlin Museum, Egyptian Department
Fig. 40,— -Egyptian Embossing in Gold
Winged figure in gold-leaf ; human-headed ‘ soul-giver
Heights I '3 inch; breadth = 3 inches. Abusir el
Meleq. Common Tomb of the Priests of Ansaphes. Berlin
Museum, Egyptian Department
Fig. 41. — Specimens of Roman Embossing
in Gold
and Ear-ring.) Berlin, Altes Museum, Anti-
Fig. 42. — Embossed Diadem from Mycense. About 1600 b,c.
Electrum) of 75 per cent, gold and 2.^-9 per cent, silver. Athens Museum (Catalog!
WIRES
37
were ornamented only with relief-w''ork. The metal most used besides
the precious metals was copper and its derivative bronze. The bronzes
of Siris in the British Museum show that in embossing this metal the
Fig. 43, — An Embossed Gold Vase from Mycenae (about 1600 B.c.)
Analysis revealed the presence of wax in the inner parts. Ath s M c ni (Catalogue No. 331)
ancients succeeded in hammering it out to the thinness of paper. Emboss-
ing was also performed on lead plates and sheets ; the latter were then
used for various technical purposes, for example, for water-pipes, for
sieves in drains, and so forth.
WIRES
The ancients had many uses for wire, especially for that made from
the precious metals, which they formed into ornaments and used even to
fasten loose teeth (according to Saville). Ancient Egyptian linds of
about 3500 B.c. include copper wire, and there are many traces that
indicate the use of wire in later times. There are still preserved wires from
the sixth century a.d. as much as 5 feet long (Germanisches Museum,
Nuremberg). At the time of the destruction of Pompeii (a.d. 79) wire
cables were already in use. One of these found in Pompeii is 15 feet long
and I inch in circumference. It consists of bronze wire in which three
cables, each composed of 15 strands, are twisted round each other. Thus
all sorts of metals were formed into wire, but only very little is knowm
about how they were made. One method is described in the Bible
38
METAL-WORKING
-Gold Rosettes. Embossed Work (from a grave in Mycenae)
About 1600 B.c, Athens Museum (Catalogue No. 590)
objects have
occurs : ' and they did
beat the gold into thin
plates, and cut it into
wires, to work it . . . in
the fine linen.’ Wire was
further produced by ham-
mering out metals and
also by forging them.
According to Schliemann
{llion, Stadt und Land der
Trojaner, p. 509) drawn
wire was known even in
the age of Homer, and it
has also been found in
various localities (among
them Mycenae) in which
made. No word has been
STAMPING
39
passed down to us as to how this drawn wire was prepared, but we
may assume that long pieces of wire, such as were used as long ago as
Fig. 46. — Examples of Homan goldsmith’s work in gold wire and gold foil
I. Bracelet made of gold-foil. 2 and 4, Chains composed of beads mads from gold-foil. 3. Chain woven from
very fine gold wire no thicker than a hair. Berlin. AUes Museum, Aiitiquariurii
2900 B.c. at Saqqarah, were made by welding together various forged
pieces.
STAMPING
Another form of metal-working that was much practised in antiquity
was that of stamping, by which metallic sheets wnre not only given a
definite form, but were also decorated by raising or lowering the surface
according to design. Whether little pieces were also stamped out of the
.sheets has not been proved, although the punch was already known in
Mycenaean times and was used for producing ornamentation. Round
metal discs were probably cut out with scissors or knives. Ornamenta-
tions were stamped into caskets, into pieces of metal which were then
sewn on to garments, and so forth ; this was carried out by placing the
metal sheet on a lead anvil. The stamp-mould, which was made of
METAL-WORKING
harder . metal, that is, of bronze or even iron,
was then placed on top. This die carried the
ornamental pattern, which had usually been en-
graved in it, but had in some cases perhaps been
cut out by means of a grinding wheel. By a
vigorous blow of the hammer the pattern on the
die was impressed upon the metal sheet. Some-
times this sheet was perhaps placed on the
stamp, the engraved face of which was then
upwards, and driven by hammering to follow
the pattern of the die. Designs which were
often repeated, such as ornaments on bowls,
rims on goblets, and so forth, were mostly pro-
duced by using the same die in succession. •
COINING, CHASING AND ENGRAVING
Closely related to the stamping of sheet-metal was the stamping of
solid metal, which was extensively used for coining money. Coins were
very often, however, — particularly in Roman times — made by casting.
We shall return to this method later, when dealing with metal-casting
generally. Here we shall
first discuss coinage, which
owed its origin to a
peculiar set of circum-
stances . Met al was origin-
ally not the only thing
used for money. Very
different objects were
used, and in China as
early as the year 2697 b.c,
paper money is supposed
to have been issued, which
was prepared from the
fibre of the mulberry-tree
and was inscribed with the
maxim : ‘ All that thou
doest, do wdth caution."
When metal began to be
used as money, it was
treated like merchandise,
that is, it was weighed out
for payment. This was
done by the Jews before
the Babylonian Captivity. In Egypt the money, which was in the
form of rings made of precious metd, was weighed by means of scales
of very appropriate design (see Figs. 48 and 49). Nor did the Greeks
and Romans use coined money at the outset. As weighing wasted
Fig. 48.^ — ^Weighing of Money Rings
The man is observing whether the balance is equipoised. There is
equilibrium when the three threads by which the little weight is
suspended from the middle of the beam are all taut at once. If one
thread is slack the scales are not balanced. i8th Dynasty (about
1530 B.c.). From the tombs Abd el Guina, Thebes
Fig. 47.— Punches for
punching ornamentations
in sheet-metal
COINING, CHASING AND ENGRAVING 41
time the process was simplified by giving the precious metal the
already mentioned form of rings or else of bars, which were designed to
have a definite weight. On the basis of the money coined by so simple
a process an extensive system of finance arose, as, for example, in Baby-
lon. There was no guarantee, however, that the rings were made from
metal of the correct degree of purity. A ring might have the correct
weight and yet not contain the proper amount of gold. It occurred
relatively late to the ancients to guarantee the weight and purity of
content by stamping the rings or the bars (ingots). In Babylon and
Egypt this method of marking had not come into use. The art of striking
coins seems to have arisen about the year 700 b.c., and according to
recent research (H. Halke) Herodotus was probably right in asserting
that ‘ they (the Lydians)
were, so far as we know,
the first to stamp and use
gold and silver coins ’
(Herodotus I, 94). The
coins were egg-shaped and
exhibited on one side a
number of parallel stripes ;
on the other there were
irregular dents. They were
macle ■ of ‘ electrum’, the
alloy of gold and silver
which has been mentioned
above (p. ii), and which
in this case contained these
metals in the proportion
3:1. It was only later
that pictures were stamped
on the coins (heads of
animals, figures of gods,
and finally of the rulers Attached to the beam is a pointer directed vertically downwards
of the COUntrV in ClUeS- and carrying a plummet that is evidently to coincide with a point
A " ' marked on the support
tion) .
Coins were struck by a sort of improved process of stamping. A die
was used in which the design to be impressed was engraved. The dies
were made of hardened bronze, but very often also of iron. They do
not seem to have been very durable, since from one and the same mint
in the course of a very short time, often only a year, coins were sent out
with constantly changing designs owing to the use of new dies. There
must have been an enormous variety of types in antiquity. Of all these
dies, however, only two Greek and a number of Roman examples have
come down to us. Moreover, numismatists do not regard the latter dies
as genuine. They are considered to be dies used by forgers for making
counterfeit coins. A further die, only recently found in Egypt (Fig. 50)
dates back to the time 430-322 B.c., that is, to the time of the Persian
kings, and shows that coins were then already being struck in Egypt.
Fig. 49. — Another Egyptian Balance, of different
construction
42 METAL-WORKING
This die is made of bronze, being over 2 in. high and weighing about
lb. ; it has the form of two truncated pyramids of unequal height,
placed base to base. The lower pyramid, wdiich carries the design, is the
one of less altitude. An investigation by Zenghelis disclosed that the
die was of the same hardne.ss and colour throughout. Apparent thicken-
ings are due to the action of a hammer and the resistance of what was
below it. Analysis of the metal contained in this die showed that the
original composition of the alloy was 75 parts by weight of copper and
25 parts by weight of tin. The usual tin-copper alloy contains 90 parts
of copper to 10 parts of tin. Among the hundreds of analyses carried out
by Zenghelis only one other case of this unusually high percentage of tin
(nearly twice as much as usual) was discovered ; this was an Egyptian
spear-point, that is, an object which likewise demanded great hardness
together with considerable density. But the die had also to be suffi-
ciently soft to allow the picture which was to be stamped on the coin, the
owd of the Athenian tetradrachni,^ to be engraved in it. The fact that
this particular alloy was chosen as hav-
ing all these properties simultaneously
and that it contains no trace of any
foreign metal that might have affected
these properties shows how clearly the
influence of chemical composition on
physical pi'operties w^as recognized even
at that time.
The coins of Greece and Rome —
in particular those of the earlier times
— are technically very imperfect. The
greatest importance appears always to
have been attached to giving as artistic
a reproduction as possible of the picture
in the die. Famous engravers of dies,
such as the Greek Euainetos, inscribed their names on the dies of their own
making. The metal for the die was not carved in the form of round discs
out of ingots, as is usual wdth us, but rather each piece was cast separately
and forms were used which could be opened out, like those nowadays used
in mints to prepare metallic bars. As the stamping caused the coin to
flatten or hollow out in the middle, and as the reliefs of some of the dies
were rather prominent, the piece of metal to be stamped was often cast
in the form of a lens slightly convex on each side. The edge of this piece
of metal, which was usually not milled, in some cases still exhibits
traces of the seam due to casting and the orifice for admitting the molten
metal. The oldest serrated coins, serrata, which had toothed edges
like a saw, first occurred about 190 b.c. and were very popular among
’ The telradrachm (4 drachmae) was the famous Athenian stater or standard
piece. vSce pp. 1 7 and 1 8 of the second edition of A Guide to the Exhibition illustrating
Greek and Roman Life, issued by the British Museum, which contains excellent
examples of the coins mentioned in the text. A perusal of this Guide is much to
be recommended. — •H.L. B. ■«
sigttt = b eras, (about 3-4 j
grms.' (about | lb.)
COINING, CHASING AND ENGRAVING
43
% -v
-Ancient Coins bearing Traces of the Process of Coining
to Dr. Cahn, Frankfort-on-the-Main. Sec Key at the foot of the followinj; page
Colleetk
the Germanic tribes (Tacitus) . In order to keep the coin in position whilst
being stamped (this was at first done only on one side) a square serrated
44 METAL-WORKING
block was fixed on the anvil so that the blow of the hammer on the die
forced the coin to be gripped firmly by the edges of the block and so to
be marked by it. On old Greek coins
one can still see the marks of this
block, that projected from the anvil.
Later on, the ancients made a virtue
of necessity and gave the block any
convenient form. As shown in the
accompanying Fig. 51 this form was
very often that of a square, either
simple or marked with lines [quadratum
incusum). This fulfilled technical re-
quirements best. It effectively coun-
teracted any pressure due to displace-
ment, no matter in what direction it
was exerted. When marked with lines,
this block held the coin in a particu-
larly firm grip, as any unsteady ten-
dency was then checked at various
points simultaneously.
Letters were also cut into the
Hephaistos (wall painting in Pompeii) block SO that it served as a SOrt of
counter- die or mould {matrix). From
it there later developed the proper counterpart piece, (joins were prob-
Key to F.'g. 51, p. 43.
1. Archaic Tetradrachm from Acanthus in Macedonia with a simple quadrahtm
incusum ; sixth century b.c.
2. Drachma from Aegina with Tortoise and simple lined ‘ quadratum incusum ' ;
fifth century.
3. Archaic Stater from Corinth with the head of Athena in the quadratum incusum ;
fifth century.
4. Archaic Didrachm from Caulonia in South Italy, about 550 b.c., on which the
picture on the obverse side is repeated on the reverse side. Of great
technical interest.
5. Tetradrachm of Queen Philistis of Syracuse, 275 b.c. ; the golden age of making
dies for coins ; high relief.
6. Tetradrachm of the Province of Macedonia while under Roman rule after
148 B.c. Example of late Greek die-cutting.
7. Early Romano -C£impanian double denarius, about 250 b.c., bearing tlie legend
' Roma ’ indented.
8. Didrachm from Hyria in Campania stamped with a faulty die.
9. Denarius of Julius Caesar, in which the impress overlaps the edge, owing to the
die not having been centrally placed.
10. Denarius of the Gens Pumponia, about 100 B.c., with crenated (notched) edge
(so-called ‘ Serratus ’).
11. Didrachm from Metapontum (Lucania), impressed on too small a piece.
12. Cast Roman Triens (= -J- As — 4 Unciae), with the hole of the casting form
left as an excrescence ; from the heavy copper coins issued by the city of
Rome, fourth century b.c.
13. Ovally cast Sextans ( - | As == 6 Unciae) from the scries of heavy Umbrian
copper coins. The excrescences due to the casting holes have been clipped
I .off. ,,
RIVETING, SOLDERING, WELDING, CEMENTING 45
ably always struck from the cold metal, although it has often been
assumed that it was placed hot on the anvil and held with tongs.
Several powerful blows on the die executed presumably by means of
a heavy hammer constituted the actual process of coining. The relief
mostly appears quite prominent, but, even as late as in Imperial Roman
times, the impress is very often not in the middle. It is displaced
towards the edge, sometimes it is indistinct, showing clearly that the
die had not been accurately in position or had not been firmly fixed
or that the coin itself had shifted, or else that in order to improve a
bad impress a second had been attempted on top of the first. It is not
improbable that large coins were first cast in a form or mould, which
already contained the relief ; the latter was made by taking a lead
cast of the die and impressing this cast on the form. This relief, obtained
by casting in the latter mould, was then placed in contact with the die
and the somewhat blurred cast relief was brought out more distinctly
by hammering.
Fig. 51 shows a number of other ancient coins in which characteristic
features of the art of coining are recognizable.
Even before coins were struck, medals appear to have been made by
the same process. In the Berlin Museum there is a gold medal which is
probably of the time of the legendary Queen Semiramis, the daughter-
in-law of Shalmana.ssar III (860-826 B.c,). Although the execution of
this medal is primitive, it is of high artistic merit.
Besides the above processes of working metals mechanically, chasing
was also practised (see Fig. 52, p. 44). As in the case of engraving, it
was performed with instruments that are essentially similar to those
nowadays in use.
RIVETING, SOLDERING, WELDING, CEMENTING
The joining up of several pieces of metal to form a single large piece
was effected, as already mentioned above, by riveting or by using clamps.
It is not known when these methods were supplanted by the more inti-
mate union obtained by soldering. Glaucus of Chios is regarded by .some
as the inventor of soldering, or at any rate he was apparently so con.sidered
by the ancients. Actually, however, the arts of .soldering and welding
were both known before the time of Glaucus, who lived around the year
700 B.c. ‘ Soldering ’ we take as meaning the union of two pieces of the
same or different metal by means of fire and the use of a third metal, the
so-called ‘ solder ’. ‘ Welding ’ is likewise effected by fire, but without
the use of a third metal. Welded pieces which date back to the year
1490 B.c. were found among the excavations at Thebes (Wilkin.son,^ II,
258). Further, there is in the British Museum an Egyptian rattle of
Pharaonic date, which is soldered with lead. Its exact date could not be
ascertained, but it is at any rate older , than the objects reputed to have
been constructed by Glaucus. Moreover, Schliemann has excavated gold
vessels which have also been soldered, but in this case with gold solder.
From these and various other finds it is quite clear that soldering and
^ See reference on p. 31.
METAL-WORKING
46
welding are very ancient arts. It has emerged from investigation, par-
ticularly of the silver objects found at Hildesheim, which are of the time
of the Julian Emperors, that hard soldering and soft soldering were
already both, in use. Soft solder consists of tin or a tin-alloy and is
easily fusible. Hard solder is a copper alloy, mostly of the composition
of bronze or brass. To what extent these two kinds of solder were used
in Pliny’s time cannot be discerned from his writings as (according to
Bliimner) he gives only a vague account of the art of soldering (XXXIII,
94). He says : ‘For gold, " chrysocolla ” is used ; for iron, alumina ;
for large pieces of copper, calamine ; for copper sheets, alum ; for lead
with marble, resin, with which also lead is joined to tin ; for tin with tin,
oil ; and the same for the union of crude lead with bronze or crude lead with
silver.’ It is impossible to follow Pliny’s meaning, as he jumbles up the
solders with the other agents used to exclude the air from the joint during
soldering in order to prevent oxidation of the metal surfaces. All that we
can gather is that among such agents, according to Pliny, there were
alumina, alum, and oil. Lead cannot be soldered with marble at' all.
Resin probably served both as a protective agent, in the above sense, for
lead solderings as well as for filling up holes
made in marble by pouring in lead. The
latter process was often used to fasten bronze
or iron clamps in marble. ‘ Chrysocolla ’ is
. malachite, that is, a basic copper carbonate,
having the formula CuC03.Cu(0H) 2, which
was probably not used directly as a solder
but indirectly as a constituent of gold sol-
der, the preparation of which is described in
Figs. 53 and 54.---Roman Blow- detail by both Dioscorides (v. 92) and Pliny.
FoMdS’SteS ta Fraice Verdigris is mixed with a boy’s urine in
a copper mortar. Soda is then added.
Probably malachite, that is, chrysocolla, which has a composition re-
sembling that of verdigris, could be used in place of the latter.
Verdigris is a basic copper acetate having the composition
Cu(C2H:j02)2-2Cu( 0H)2; it decomposes under the influence of heat in
the same way as malachite, so that pure molten copper is finally pro-
duced, which effects the join. Thus, in both cases carbon dioxide or
carbon monoxide is given off among other gases or vapours, and they
protect the surfaces from, oxidation.
'Pile use of calamine as a solder, as alleged by Pliny, is perhaps ex-
plained by the fact that in a coal fire this compound of zinc and carbonic
acid is reduced to pure zinc, which formed brass with the copper that was
to be soldered, and so a hard solder was produced. A favourite and
much used solder was lead, and also its alloy with tin. Pure tin was
further used to solder the precious metals (as in the silver objects dis-
covered at Hildesheim).
The actual process of soldering probably hardly differed at all from
the modern method. The blow-pipe which served to concentrate the
flame was probably already known to the ancient Egyptians. It is
FORGING METALS. THE SMITHY
47
certain that the Roman goldsmiths used it and also the soldering iron
(Figs. 53 and 54) . For combining metals with other materials, there were
used (apart from the process involving lead and resin above mentioned),
cements whose composition is not yet wholly explained. Thus, in a
tomb at Mycenae Rhousopoulus found rosettes of gold which had been
fastened to the wooden cover of the coffin by means of a cement con-
taining manganese. Other cements, also containing manganese, have
been found elsewhere, so that there are grounds for believing that some
manganese ore, probably pyroliisite, was a common constituent of such
cements in ancient Greece.
FORGING METALS. THE SMITHY
In ancient times, just as nowadays, the forging of metals occupied a
prominent position among the metallic arts. For even in antiquity the
smith furnished a great portion of the implements necessary for agricul-
ture, technical work, and for the household as well as for purposes con-
nected with transport and war. The metal most used for forging at
that time was bronze ; pure copper was also used. Father Scheil
discovered in Susa a smith’s bill for bronze weapons, which was inscribed
on terra-cotta and dated back to the thirtieth century b.c. Later,
iron formed the basis of the smith’s art. Whether and to what extent
bronze and copper were actually forged in the true sense, that is, were
worked after they had been softened by being heated in a fire, must
remain an open question. The methods of working metals when cold
and forging them when hot were probably both used at the same period ;
at any rate the following passage in the eighteenth book of the Iliad
which deals with the making of Achilles’ armour by Hephaistos, allows
us to infer that bronze was in this case worked in both the hot and the
cold state and was provided vuth external ornaments or artistically
stamped :
‘ This said, he left her there, and forth did to his bellows go.
Apposed them to the fire again, commanding them to blow.
Through twenty holes made to his hearth at once blew twenty pair,
That fired his coals, .sometimes with soft, .sometimes with vehement air.
As he will’d, and his work reejuir’d. Amidst the flame he cast
Tin, silver, precious gold, and brass; and in the stock he plac’d
A mighty anvil ; his right hand a weighty hammer held,
His left his tongs. And first he forged a .strong and spacious shield
Adorn’d with twenty several hues, about whose verge he beat
A ring, three-fold and radiant; and on the back he set
A silver handle ; flve-fold were the equal lines he drew
About the whole circumference : in which his hand did shew,
Directed with a knowing mind, a rare variety, , . . 'A
^ Chapman’s translation.— H. L, B.
48
METAL-WORKING
This description by Homer gives us important information about the
art of forging in far-distant antiquity, and shows above all that, at that
early time, in the main the tools used were the same as nowadays, namely
the bellows, the anvil, the hammer and the tongs. Actually the bellows
appears to have been one of the earliest contrivances used to work metals
when hot, for it is represented in the paintings on the ancient Egyptian
temple at Karnak (sixteenth century B.c.) and is also mentioned in the
Bible, in which we read in Jeremiah vi. 29 : ‘ The bellows is burned.'
The Romans also often refer to it, as for example Vergil, Georgies iv,
170 foil.,
So the Cyclopes, when in haste they forge
Jove’s thunderbolts, to melt the stubborn mass
Some with their bellows of tough ox’s hide
Drive in and out the blast ; the hissing bronze
Others in water plunge, till Aetna groans
Beneath their anvils’ weight.
Similarly Cicero, de natura deorwn, i, 54, speaks of ‘ anvils and
bellows’.
What was the appearance of the ancient bellows ? Old Egyptian
pictures represent them as bags made of skin, probably from an ox,
fastened into a frame to hold them fixed in position, and provided in
front with a wind-channel, probably made of bamboo, which stretched
nearly to the hearth. To prevent the bamboo from getting ignited a
nozzle was placed over the end. The man who worked the bellows stood
on two such bags, one foot, on each, and held in each hand a cord with
which to pull it up and so distend it. While he pressed down on one bag
he released his foot from the other and pulled it up by means of the
corresponding cord. (See Fig. 55, and Fig. 24 on p. 25.) The fore-
runner of the bellows was probably the common fan, which was used to
make the fire glow more brightly. Further, in ancient Egypt, the
fire was also stimulated by means of tubes blown by mouth (Fig. 28,
p. 30). In later times, too, the bellows ' were made of animal skins
sewm together into bags. Horace in his Satires (i, 4, 19) mentions that
goatskins [folles hircini) were used. For larger bellows tanned oxen-
skins {folles taurini) were used. The smaller bellows looked exactly
like those we nowadays use in the home and work by hand, ’ They
were furnished with a valve, and the frame was made from beech-
wood, but probably also from other kinds of wood (Ausonins,
Mosella, 268). Larger bellows were worked by means of a lever.
The anvil which, like the hammer and tongs, is supposed, according
to Pliny (VII, 195), to have been invented by Kinyras of Cyprus, appears
in very different forms, as is shown by pictures that have been preserved
and by actual finds. It consists either of one block, or of three blocks
superposed on one another, or of a wooden base on which the iron anvil
proper rests. In the latter case the anvil is fastened deep into the base
by means of a long point. Further, the anvil was either square or
circular in cross-section, either hollowed out conically, or made in the
FORGING METALS. THE SMITHY
shape of a long horn, and in this case, it must be assumed that it was used
to weld tubes, that is, as a
so-called ‘ core An anvil G)
of this kind was found on (72 WB
the Saalburg, together with ^ A - . ^ / A M
smaller ones intended for f f ij ] A v M 1 /
finer work. The effective H If y-, L /{ L
part of the anvil always
consisted of iron. The \ l//\\
surface, the so-called ‘ face h . y/ iHMl// ll' V
was hardened by tempering All, li
(Pliny, XXXIV, 41 ) . There
is not much to be said
about the hammers and /' h '<•«) yj
the tongs. They exactly / / \ ^ V M A 1 (
resembled the modern Jr^ U • . Jj I y
forge-hammers and tongs :// y\ fl\\
and were of very varied / / W it tUlfifkj . /Z_£IN v-
form according to the pur-
poses which they were to — ^ ^
serve. In Fig. 56 and the Fig. 55.— Egyptian Bellows
following figures a num-
ber of such hammers and tongs are shown.
Forging itself, which consists in heating and working metal with the
hammer, was carried out in the' same way as nowadays. To us it seems
curious that the smith (who is represented on the ancient Roman pictures
I'’iG. 56. — Smith’s Tongs, two Anvils (on the left, third and fourth picture from the top),
Hamincr-s, Files, Punches and other Tools of the Roman Smith. Provincial Museum
' of- -Treves - .
T.A.S.— 4
METAL-WORKING
50
that are still preserved as always wearing a beard, whereas his assistants
are clean-shaven) appears to have done much of his work in a sitting
posture. At any rate the representations just mentioned show him in
many cases sitting in front of the fire manipulating the hammer. In
other pictures the smith
proper is standing while
his assistant (Eros), who
holds the piece to be
worked, is seated. These
sketches thus give us
reasonable grounds for
concluding that the forg-
ing of smaller objects
which required no par-
ticular effort was carried
out in the sitting posture,
whereas larger pieces of
metal were worked in the
standing posture. The
tempering of the glowing
iron, that is, plunging
it suddenly into cold
water to harden it, is mentioned very early, even by Homer [Odyssey, IX,
391) ; ‘ And as when a smith dips an axe or adze in chill water with a
great hissing, when he would temper it— -for hereby anon comes the
strength of iron . . ^
Actually, the hardening that was
produced by plunging the hot iron
into water was ascribed to mysterious
agencies. Moreover, some water was
regarded as better suited to tempering
than other, a view that may have been
based on the fact of the different tem-
perature of the waters. Water drawn
from a very cold stream and used
immediately for tempering would pro-
duce harder and more brittle steel than
water from, a warmer source, such as a
stagnant pool. But it could hardly
have escaped notice that the colder
water, when left unused in the smithy
for a time, so that it gradually acquired a higher temperature, produced
the different grades of tempering just mentioned. Besides water, various
other liquids were used for tempering, such as the blood of he-goats (Pliny,
XXVIII, 148) ; boys' urine, that of red-headed boys being particularly
valued, a,nd so forth. Their action may be attributed to the presence
of carbon, for they all yield charcoal on being heated. This becomes
1 Bu teller and Lang, English Prose Translation, Macmillan & Co.. London.
Fig. 57. — Greek Smithy depicted on an Attic Vase
dating from the sixth century b.c., found in Orvieto
On the left is the hearth ; above are forged objects and tools, a pitcher
and a sword. Boston, Fine Arts Museum
FORGING METALS. THE SMITHY 51
dissolved in the iron and acts as so-called tempering carbon. Oil was also
used, as nowadays, for tempering finer tools and the like. Since oil gives
only a mild hardness and since Hippocrates and others specifically mention
that tempering in oil was to serve the purpose of avoiding fissures and
This and Fiff. 6o are taken from a tombstone of the ^ recognize the various 'forms of kilives
Galeria lapidaria in the Vatican obtained by forging processes
fractures, this clearly refers to tempering for the purpose of covering the
surface of a hard piece of steel with a very thin but somewhat softer
layer which is less brittle and so prevents the metal from cracking and
breaking. Treating steel by heating it with colouring matters, which
has assumed such importance latterly, does not seem to have been
Fig. 61. — A Common Smith Fig, 62. — .Roman Smiths
On the left a bellows is apparently beina' worked; an
assistant is seated on tlie handle. Tombstone in the
Laterau Museum
known to the ancients. ' On the other hand, the ancients knew how to
weld steel points and steel blades on to weapons and tools made of
wu-oiight-iron.
For the further treatment of forged metal the smithy was equipped
with all the appliances that we still meet with in modern workshops,
such as grindstones, which w’ere probably not different from those of the
METAL-WORKING
52
present day and like them were set in rotation by means of a treadle.
The stones used came from Crete and Laconia. Oil was used with them;
whereas other grindstones (possibly emery from Naxos) were moistened
with water. Files were used, but relatively less than nowadays. A
pointed four-edged file of ancient Roman origin has been dug up in
Aliso. To smooth the pieces of forged metal Samian earth and he-
goaCs blood was chiefly used, besides the less common file.
Like the process of forging itself, the objects obtained by it in many
ways resembled our own — so closely, in fact, that very often only the
locality has made it possible to decide whether a horseshoe was of recent
with anvil, hammer, tongs and piece Fig. 65. — A Grindstone (authenticity not estab-
of metal lished)
Tombstone in the Museum of Sens
or of ancient Roman make. The existence of ancient horseshoes is,
indeed, disputed by some authorities (Schlieben) on grounds that carry
a certain amount of conviction, whereas others (for example, Schaaf-
hausen) support the opposite view. To the author the presence of great
quantities of such horseshoes in certain ancient Roman settlements seems
conclusive evidence that they were actually used, and were indeed made
by mass-production in some parts (see below). The horseshoe was
developed from the solea ferrea, the so-called ‘ hippo-sandal which was
also forged from iron, but it is not yet certain whether it did not serve
as a protection for horses with afflicted hoofs. From the finds made at
Saalburg, Jacobi distinguishes three kinds, of which the oldest are rather
FORGING METALS. THE SMITHY
53
roughly made and lie in the lowest layers. The strength of the horse-
shoes was improved in the course of time, but it is difficult to derive
Fig. 66. — ^Various pieces of ancient Roman Forged Metal
accurate information on account of the wear to which they have been
subjected. The horseshoe in our illus-
tration belongs to the latest kind and
gives the most developed form. This
type of horseshoe is strongly made,
4 to 4| in. wide and 5 to 5I in, long.
They contain six to eight holes for
nails (nowadays seven, three on one
arm and four on the other), which lie in
a groove. In the front there is a thick-
ened excrescence, the ‘ grip ’ ; this was
probably first introduced because
horses in climbing mountains wore off
this part of the shoe soonest. Further,
we also see ‘sponges', that is, the
two ends are bent back. The weight
of the shoes varies within wide limits.
The lightest that have been discovered
weigh about a quarter of a pound, the
heaviest nearly a pound. The various marks found on many of them
.suggest that they were manufactured in factories.
•Ancient Roman Horse.shoe
54
METAL-WORKING
CASTING IN METAL
The zenith of metal-working in antiquity was reached in casting,
which was carried out with various metals such as lead, probably also
tin, copper and certainly bronze. It has been affirmed on various sides
that cast-iron was in use, but this has not been proved. The most perfect
works of art were done in bronze-casting, the beginning of which is lost
in the grey dawn of tinie. Some features indicate that it may have
originated in India, where, as we know, the art of working metals was
highly developed at a very early period. It is clear that, at first, only solid
casts were made, in which the cast is composed throughout of metal and
is consequently not only heavy but requires a considerable quantity of
metal. How solid casting was practised in Egypt is shown in an old
Fig. 68. — -Mould and Counterpart (or Cast) as used in casting a Relief
Deutsches Museum, Munich
picture of 1600 b.c., which came from a temple at Karnak and depicts
the casting of a bronze door of a temple. The mould rests on the ground
and consists of two open boxes that are filled with sand (presumably
wet). Slaves carry on their shoulders bags containing this sand and
empty it into the foundry. The model, previously prepared, possibly of
wood, is pressed into the sand, one half into that of one box and the
other half into that of the other box. The sand is then allowed to dry
in the air and the two boxes are placed together to form a closed com-
partment, which is provided at the top with numerous apertures into
which funnel-shaped head pieces are inserted. These serve to allow the
molten metal to be run in and also the air to escape when it is displaced
from the hollow mould during the filling. The metal is melted in casting
crucibles which are held fast between two rods and thus brought to the
mouths of the funnels (see Fig. 55 and Fig. 69). Tongs such as are now-
adays used to grip the crucibles appear not to have been known-. The
CASTING IN METAL 53
axrangement of rods resembles the frame carrier which is nowadays
employed in transporting casting crucibles. By inclining the crucible the
metal is poured out as a glowing stream into the funnel so as to fill the
mould, where it is left to cool. The halves of the casting-box are then
separated and the finished cast is disclosed to view. The two temple
doors (perhaps also their models) are represented at the top of Fig. 6g.
We also clearly discern, above and below, the hinges on which they are to
turn. The workmen beside them, to judge from the tongs and blow pipes
they are carrying, appear to have the duty of attending to the fire under
the casting crucibles.
Solid casting was later superseded by hollow casting which, however,
like the former appears not to have been known to the Greeks of mytho-
Fig. 69. — Casting a Temple-door in ancient Egypt
logical times and of the immediately succeeding epochs ; for when Homer
describes how the equipment of his heroes was made, he mentions only
forged work, never casts. It seems that implements, weapons and similar
articles, which were later made by forging, were in very early times made
by some other process. To cite only one example, in making excavations
at the acropolis of Susa, the old capital of the Persian kings, Morgan found a
javelin which had been made not by casting but by tightly twisting up a
bronze plate, about an eighth of an inch thick, which had been previously
prepared by being hammered. The direction of the cracks in it proved
l^eyond doubt that it had been made in this way. It is probable that
the two Samians, Rhoikos and Theodoros,^ did not, as the Greeks assert,
actually invent bronze-casting, but introduced it about 650 b.g. from
Asia Minor into Greece. Little moulds made of stone and of an early
date have, indeed, been found — for example, by Schliemann in his
Mycenaean excavations — and have been regarded as casting-moulds, but
probably they arc only forms that were used for embossing. Neverthe-
less, stone, moulds have actually been used for making solid casts, as is
^Cf. Seyffert, Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (Sonnenschein).
METAL-WORKING
proved by various prehistoric finds (Fig. 73).
the advantage that they did not have to be
broken after the cast had solidified but could
be used over and over again. Rhoikos and
Theodoros, even at that early period, produced
works of large dimensions ; they applied the
process known as cire perdue, a method of
Fig. 70. — Egyptian Hand-
Mirror of bronze, cast in
two pieces
The two pieces (handle and mirror)
were drilled after casting, and were
riveted together. The niirror itself
is gilt. On the reverse side papyrus
umbels are engraved, Length
13 in, Berlin Museum, Egyptian
Fig. 71. — Solid Egyptian
Cast, of precious metal ; gold
handle in the form of a
wild ox (fixed to a silver
vessel)
The folds in the neck are cast,
those on the body are engraved.
Length 4i in. Berlin Museum,
Egyptian Section
Such moulds possessed
Fig. 72 . — Egyptian Hollow
Cast. Bronze figure of
Buto, with a lion’s head,
and the sun’s disc, sitting
on a throne. Eyes of gold.
Marked with engravings
Height 30 in. From Sais.
Berlin Museum, Egyptian Section
casting which predominated subsequently. Even in very old Egyp-
tian bronze work there
is unmistakable evidence
mndel ' prepared frorn
that the finer details had
not been added to the
cast later. Traces of fin-
ishing off with a chisel
or a file are to be found
only at the points at which the metal was run in and at points where
-Prehistoric Stone Moulds for mi
casts of simple objects (Chisels)
Deutsches Museum, Munich
CASTING IN METAL
there were faults. The cast is an extremely thin shell, so that there
must have been a nucleus or core which nearly filled out the mould
and which left only very little space between it and the inner side of
the mould. This narrow space was then filled with metal. As an
example of how thin the ancients could make their casts we may
quote the ‘ Praying Boy ’ in the Berlin Museum ; this cast can be com-
fortably carried by one man. A stature of Hera ^ found in 1834 Vulci
and now in the Munich Glyptothek, weighs barely 100 lbs. (see Fig. 77)
although it is nearly 6 ft. high ; a modern bronze statue of the same size
would weigh nearly ten times as much. Some parts of it are so thin that
they give the impre.ssion of having been embossed ; closer investigation,
X^'ra. 74. — Egyptian Bronzes, solid and hollow casts
German Museum, Munich
however, sliows that this is not the case. Statues of this kind were
mostly cast in several parts which were afterwards joined together so
skilfully that the joins defy detection.
The cast was produced in the following manner. First, a nucleus of
clay, brick-dust and similar powdery substances was prepared, which
was smaller than the cast to be made by an amount equal to the thick-
ness desired for the shell of the cast. This nucleus was enveloped in a
layer of wax which the artist used as a model. Pie very carefully shaped
and kneaded the wax with his wooden modelling implements (which
resemble those still in use) and so prepared the original of the casts to
^ This supposed ' Hera ’ is, in the light of recent arcliEcological research, now
called ‘ Tlie Spinner
58 METAL-WORKING
be made. He next took thin metal tacks and pressed or hammered
them through the wax layer into the nuclear form. Their purpose was to
keep the casting form, the ‘ mantle at a correct distance from the
nucleus after the wax had been melted out. The inner surface of this
form therefore necessarily coincided with the outer surface of the wax.
Further, at various points in the wax layer wax rods were erected as verti-
cally as possible, which reached above the highest point of the wax model,
most of them uniting at the top in a central drum above the figure proper.
Figs. 75 and 76. — Greek Casting Workshop
Above on the left is the furnace, the upper opening of which is covered with a stone (?) which perhaps served to regulate
the heat. In front is the opening for admitting fuel. Behind is an assistant, apparently working the bellows. Above
on the right is an open mould from which the cast is being removed. Below is the centrehn a finished cast (of a warrior)
in a wooden frame ; the cast is being chiselled and finished off. On the walls there "are drawings, hammers, saws,
parts of casts (feet), chiselling tools, and so forth. There are also assistants and onlookers. U.keii from an Attic red-
figured vase. First third of the fifth century b.C. Berlin, Altes Museum, Antiquarium
The whole was then carefully covered with very fine clay or a mixture of
clay and brick-dust ; this was in turn covered with thick loam which,
was in some cases surrounded by masonry or held together by iron
bands (like the masonry itself), ’^^en the loam had dried the wax was
removed by being melted, so that the hollow form was created into which
the metal was to be run. The wax-rods previously erected were also
melted away ; in their place channels arose through whic.li molten bronze
was run into the hollow mould. The wax drum served as a funnel for
CASTING IN METAL
Vv
the incoming bronze. A few channels that did not join at the top but
were left free allowed the air that was displaced
by metal to escape into the open (air-holes). IFT ^
After the metal had become cold the cover- ^ ;
ing (mantle) was cracked off and the cast was f' ■
detached from the nuclear form, or the latter ;
was shattered to pieces if the shape of the cast ^ i
made this necessary. The projections due to the
presence of the canals were then chiselled off and ’ j
filed, and all other unevennesses on the surface I
were smoothed off. The cast was then complete. ^ "1
The Romans made casts in the same way, Ik
employing for preference the method of hollow
casts with ‘break moulds’^ just described, but «
they also practised solid casting in the case of f
smaller articles. As particularly beautiful ex- >1
amples of ancient Greek and Roman solid casting, !' 1
and, indeed, of metal work of any kind, we must |
mention their mirrors, which are flat disks of r
bronze, one side of which is highly polished, the 'j.
other being attractively engraved and orna- ^
mented ; the mirror itself is mounted on an
artistic handle. Later mirrors were also covered
with a thin surface of silver ; or the bronze plate
was cemented on to a base, and in some instances, or^'^Tte^Spin^
to prevent scratching, was enclosed in a sort of ^ ' ner ’
case provided with a lid which moved on a hinge.
One branch of casting
clay was .then. ulried and
l-iG. 78.— The Wolf, with Romulus and Remus glowccl^ out slightly in a
Etruscan Brozize (hollow cast). Capitoline Museunz, Hoizze fire. illB tWO disCS, Cach
of which now bore the
impress of a face of the coin, had previously been made to fit exactly
and were provided above with a triangular incision which served for
1 1.e. used for one cast only.
6o METAL-WORKING
pouring in the metal. After the firing, they were placed together ;
usually, to save labour, a whole set of such coin moulds was made and
was enveloped in loam to prevent
^ them from shifting their position dur-
‘ / ing the casting. The metal was next
poured in. On cooling, the moulds
- ^ were taken apart and 'the base coin
' ' ' J finished ofi by removing the peak
caused by the aperture of the mould ;
this was done by polishing the rim and
other parts (Figs. 83-86).
mSiMB Even before the development of
' Greek and Roman art in bronze this same
nf flourished in the north among the
jH • ‘ barbarians ’, reaching its zenith in the
. iw so-called La-Tene period, which began
'■ '* 3-hout 400 B.c. It was, however, at the
If ^ same time supplanted by iron, which
l # coming into use. Although
Figs. 79-81. — Specimens of Hollow Casting
Berlin Museum, Antiquarium
bronze-work among the northern races refers to prehistoric dis-
coveries, the consideration of which is not within the scope of this
TREATING METALS CHEMICALLY
6i
book, we must mention that the vessels made at that time, of which
some are very beautiful, were first modelled in loam which was plastered
on the nuclear form. The mantle was fitted over the loam and was cut
when it was to be removed. The cut mantle was joined together later
Fig. 82. — Greek Folding Mirror with a
soldered hinge, which also serves as a handle,
and with a movable ring at the bottom
■fastened by hooks through holes. The
design represents Skylla. Fourth to third
century b.c.
Berlin Museum, Antiquarium
Figs. 83 and 84. — The two halves of a
Roman coiner's Casting Moulds, made of
slightly burnt clay. At the top is the
aperture for admitting the molten metal
Natural size. Collection of Dr. Cahii, Frankfort-oii-
the-Main
Figs. 85 and 86.— Two halves of a Roman
coiner’s Mould with the triangular aperture
at the top for admitting molten metal.
Burnt clay. Very sharp impress
Natural size. Collectiou of Dr. Calm, Frankfort-on-
the-Main
and supported in loam during the process of casting. The loam model
surrounding the nuclear form could now be detached from the latter,
which could not, of course, be simply melted out like wax. The cast-
ing wa.s done, just as described above, by allowing the metal to run
into the space between the nuclear form and the mantle.
CHEMICAL TREATMENT AND COLOURING OF
METALS
To the above arts of treating metals mechanically with or without
the help of lire must be added the chemical treatment of metals which
aimed in the first place at conferring a certain lustre on metallic objects.
This was accomplished either naturahy, that is, by mixing the metals
in a perfectly definite way, especially in the case of alloys, in order to
arrive at a desired tint, or else artificially, by colouring the metal.
Examples of the first method are ‘ electrum ‘ Corinthian brass’,
bronze, and so forth, whose colours coujd varied by suitably adjusting
62
METAL-WORKING
the relative amounts of the constituents of these alloys. Thus, three sorts
of ‘ Corinthian brass a species of bronze, were known; it was also pro-
duced in a whitish and golden-yellow colour, this being effected, it is
alleged, by adding more gold or silver to the copper or bronze. Such
bronzes, containing silver and gold, were indeed considered to be of a
particularly fine colour. Liver-coloured bronzes {xa?iKdg i^natL^cjov)
also occur. Metals were coloured artificially by various processes.
Silver surfaces were given a golden colour by smearing them with orpi-
ment (arsenic trisulphide, AsgSs) ; copper surfaces were silvered by
rubbing them with quicksilver (mercury). Gold coins containing high
percentages of base metal were given a gold surface by being heated to
a dull red glow with a mixture of common salt, dehydrated iron sulphate
and brick-dust. The silver chloride produced melts and fuses with the
brick-dust so that the surface of the coin acquires the appearance of pure
gold. Among these processes we must also include the true processes
Fig. 87. — Roman Niello
Silver goblet with branches of ivy in niello ; from silver finds made in Hildesheim. Berlin, Altes Museum, Antiquarium
of gilding and silvering, namely by means of gold- and silver-leaf ^ ;
further, hot gilding with the help of gold amalgam, which was early
known, as it is described by various Roman writers (Vitruvius, VII, 8, 4 ;
Isidore, Origg. XVI, 19, 2 ; Pliny, XXXIII, 64). Their descriptions show
that it was practised exactly as is still done nowadays ; and lastly, tin-
plating, already known in prehistoric times, which was effected by dipping
objects in molten tin and which was so skilfully done by the Gauls, for
instance, that tin-plated objects could not be distinguished from silver
ones. The Egyptians dipped the bronzes that came out of the casting
moulds, while still hot, in molten resin which tinted the surface to the
desired shade. The Egyptians were likewise acquainted with the method
of colouring silver black, that is, with producing ‘ niello According to
Pliny (XXXIII, 131) they accomplished this by melting together equal
parts of silver, copper and sulphur (slightly in excess). Several of these
Egyptian objects decorated with niello are known ; for example, a vase
found in Hungary, a very finely nielloed silver plate of Egyptian origin,
1 See pp. 29, et seq.
TREATING METALS CHEMICALLY 63
now in Corinth, a clasp in the Imperial cabinet of coins and antiquities in
Vienna ; this clasp exhibits decorations exquisitely engraved in gold and
filled in with a niello-like mass ; there are also other specimens.
Egyptian niello, the age of which is estimated at 3,000 years, consists
of compact layers which contain some enclosed stiffening substance,
whereas Roman niello consists usually only of thin strata. It appears
Figs. 8S-91.— Roman Filigree
Ivar-i'iiigj, oniaiiicntal buttons, liliula' (broodies), and so forth, partly chased and ornamented with gold wire that lias
been soldered on. Berlin, Altes Museum, Antiquariuni
that the oldest Egyptian niello was worked on gold alone and that it was
only later produced on silver.
The Romans made niello by melting together silver, copper, and lead
with sulphur. After the mass, now become black owing to the production
of silver sulphide, had been reduced to a fine powder, the latter was mixed
with borax and melted over glowing coals on to the previously engraved
METAL-WORKING
64
silver and gold. After cleaning and polishing, the metallic foundation
appears, the depressions in the surface being coloured black by the niello.
A prescription by Pliny for making niello runs : 3 parts of silver, i part of
copper, and 3 parts of sulphur (see Fig. 87).
SPECIAL METHODS OF WORKING METALS
Following on the above-described processes for treating metals we
give several others which cannot be fitted into the scheme we have
adopted but which likewise played an important part in antiquity. We
are referring to the technical arts which chiefly fall within the range of
the goldsmith, who was, indeed, a man of great experience and dexterity
in various technical branches ; he practised almost all the methods already
mentioned of working metals. He knew how to chase metals, how^ to
make alloys, how to colour metals ; he cast smaller objects in precious
metals in special furnaces, and so forth. . To these must be added
certain other technical accomplishments, such as chryselephantine work
(that is, overlaying with gold and ivory). This technique was also
practised by sculptors. It consists in covering individual parts of statues,
in particular the flesh parts, with ivory, the rest being covered with richly
enamelled gold. In the first place, it is now a lost art to join ivory
plates without leaving traces or the joins and without the differences of
external temperature giving rise to cracks owing to the resultant change
SPECIAL METHODS OF WORKING METALS
65
Fig. 93. — Roman Enamel-work
Bronzes with variously rolnured enamel. Second and fourth ornamental button from the left in the top row are blue and
while, the other objects are in widely different colour.s ; tlv third button from the left in the top row contains almost
all colours. Provincial Museum at Treves
of dimensions. Next, they softened and
known how this was done. Lastly,
profusion.
A further accomplishment pecu-
liar to the goldsmith was filigree
work (Figs. 88-gi, p. 63) which was
probably common in Egypt and be-
came transplanted into Greece ; later
the Romans carried it over into
Germania, where, however, it never
flourished particularly. Filigree
work consists in soldering gold
threads on to ornaments made of
precious metal ; in this way very
delicate ■ creations are often pro-
duced.
Enamelling was also used for
ornamenting jewellery (Figs. 92-94).
Nowadays we regard Egypt as the
origin of the art of enamelling, although some have claimed that it is
Persia, which was certainly acquainted with the art at a very early date.
The enamel for precious metals was produced in the same way as that for
T..^.S .—5
Fig.
Cellular anamcl
The chain, dcpiclMl below, is made of gold plate and is
divided into cells by the gold wire that has been sol-
dered on {Filigree) ; these t ells arc partly filled with
stones and partly with enamel. (Some cells have now
lost their filling-i,) Berlin, Allcs Museum, .>Vuti(iuarium
66 METAL-WORKING
or into its cells is to keep its position,
the contractions and expansions due
to variations of temperature must
be the same for the enamel as for
the metal. In physical terms, they
must have the same coefficient of
expansion. As soon as the one con-
tracts or expands more than the
other the enamel will either become
loose and finally fall out, or it will
1 The assumption made by Man {Pompeii in Leben and Kunsi igoo) th.a.t ‘ the
one workman is holding himself as far away as possible so as not to be struck by
flying sparks', can hardly be correct, as gold in antiquity, as nowadays, was
certainly always beaten while cold and not, like iron, while hot.
If!
llfl ■
■af §>•
iifi
mi
llsl
P>a.ia
clay objects, and there is no chemical
difference (see also the sections on
‘ Glass’ and ‘ Pottery ’ below). The
preparation of enamel is a branch of
the ancient technical arts which
suffered from various imperfections ;
these could be eliminated only later
as the knowledge of physics and
chemistry grew. If, for example,
the enamel that is melted on metal
Fig. 95. — Egyptian Inlaid Work
Bronze Figure of the Goddess Neith. On her head is the
erown of Lower Egypt ; collar, eyes and crown are inlaid
with gold. Height 6 in. Berlin Museum, Egyptian
Section
SPECIAL METHODS OF WORKING METALS 67
become so compressed by the contracting metal that it will fracture or
split . I f glasses of various colours are employed, their melting-points must
either be the same or else lie close together. Otherwise the one glass
will be melted before the others have even begun to get viscous. And
if the temperature is raised to the melting-point of the coloured glass
that melts least readily, it is very often so high that those glasses which
melt more easily become changed, losing their colour or decomposing,
or becoming dull, and so forth. Whereas nowadays we can successfully
deal with all these factors and, in particular cases, interpose a special
layer of enamel, the so-called ' counter-enamel’, which counterbalances
any difference of expansion that might be present, the ancients were
helpless in the face of these difficult problems. Consequently there are
relatively few well-preserved specimens of enamel work of those times, and
in most cases the layer of enamel has been forced out or has fallen out of
the cells.
Lastly we must consider inlay work. Inlaid objects occur at the
eaidiest period of history. AsvSyrian bronze plates with inlaid silver
ornaments are known, also an inlaid disc from Epirus, bronze appliances
from Pompeii, and so forth. In Frankish and Alemannic tombs inlaid
objects are found particularly often. Inlaying was performed in one of
two ways. Either the metal to be ornamented was roughened with a
roughening hammer (scraper) and the roughened surface was covered with
a thin layer of gold and silver which easily adhered ; or the metal (in this
case usually iron) was split to a certain depth and the other metal was
inserted into the opening so made and the whole was then again subjected
to the forging hammer probably in the cold state.
WOOD-WORKING
PROCURING WOOD. FELLING TREES
W OOD was one of the earliest of the raw materials that served the
purposes of the arts and crafts of antiquity. It need only be
recollected that the habitations and their individual parts, such
as the pillars, consisted mostly of wood before the time when they were
replaced by stone. The wood was at first collected wherever it was found,
particularly in the neighbourhood of where it was to be used. When it
did not offer itself in the form of' floating trunks, broken branches and so
forth, it had to be obtained by felling trees.
For this purpose fire was perhaps used in the
remotest times, which was lit round about the
trunk until it was so far charred that it fell of
its own accord ; later on, however, special
appliances were used. As late as Homer’s
time, about 850-800 B.c., the Greeks still used
stone axes 1 to fell trees and chop off branches,
which, as Schliemann rightly points out, must
have been a very laborious undertaking. The
little saws of silex and chalcedony from the ex-
cavations of Troy were often only a few inches
long and were probably used to saw up bones,
perhaps also to smooth the surface of wood,
which was necessary as it was not possible to
cleave directly through a tree by means of
stone axes. Consequently the resulting boards
were rather uneven. The Egyptians, on the
other hand, early made use of bronze im-
plements for felling trees. They used both axes
and pointed saws, the latter probably being
used for subordinate purposes. On the other
hand, for dividing up the felled trunk into
boards the saw played an important part. These boards were made
in the following way in ancient Egypt. A stake was stuck vertically
into the ground. The trunk to be sawn was tied on to this stake and
was also fixed in a vertical position. Sawing was then commenced
vertically downwards and was continued until ropes could be used to
prevent the sawn parts pressing together and jamming the saw (Fig. 104,
p. 71) . The most commonly used saw had straight teeth and did not have
1 A blunder ; iron or bronze axes 'W'erc used, see Iliad IV, 485 ; XXIII, 118. —
Tran '.
Fig. 97.—- Assyrian Wood-
cutters
Their equipment, consisting of a
cross-cut saw, hatchet and props
(■which Layard interprets as spades),
leads us to conclude that they are
on the way to felling trees. The
form of the ‘ spades ' seems uncom-
mon ; we can imagine these being
used only perhaps to dig out roots.
They are more likely props which
were placed alternately under the
tree, as the latter began to lean over,
so as to let it down gently without
injuring neighbouring : trees. Bas-
relief in Knjimdchik
PROCURING WOOD. FELLING TREES
69
its teeth, set cross- wise like those of our day, that is, the teeth were not bent
outwards first to one side and then to the other alternately, the purpose of
which is to prevent the blade from getting stuck.
Hence with the straight teeth, ropes which enabled
the parts of the trunk to be held asunder were a
useful adjunct in some circumstances. If the indi-
vidual parts got loose, which made sawing difficult.
Fig. 9S. — Roman Double-axe
Wi til a broiizo covering consisting of three parts. The lateral parts (see also
Figs. 100 and loi) can be opened outwards. Hooks serve to attach the
Fig. gg.— Covering of Fig. 102.— Part of the
a Roman Axe Cover of a Roman Axe
they were also bound with ropes
until the trunk was sawn right
through. The plane was not
known to the ancient Egyptians;
in its place they used a kind of
adze, with which they smoothed
the surface of the wood. It must
be remarked that the axes used by
the Egyptians to fell trees had no
hole into which to fasten the
handle ; they w^ere bound to the
latter by cords. The Romans
felled trees in much the same way
as we do, namely, by chopping
notches out of the trunk with
axes, until the tree could be pulled
down with ropes. The wood-
cutter of the present time usu-
ally guards himself against acci-
dents by surrounding the edge of
his tool with wooden guards which
also serve to protect the edge. Similar devices were known to the Romans.
mi
iJih}
Figs, roo and 101.- Roman Hatchet-
■ "knife ■■■"
With a strong b,ick anti two edges (a long one opposite,
the back and a short one at the front end) .so that it cotild
servo both as a chopper and as a light hatchet. The
hatchet has a bronze cover in three parts, which fits
closely. The two long parts arc connected wdth the
third, which protects the sliort edge, by pins an<l can be
opened out. The handles, which are not shown, were
riveted oxi, as is evident from tlip rivet-holes and pins.
The objects represented in Figs. 98-102 were found in
the Rhine at the Bleiaue near’ Mainz. Museum at
.. . " ■ Mainz ^
WOOD-WORKING
70
An iron donble-axe found in the Rhine has around its wide edge a cover-
ing or sheath of bronze, consisting of three parts ; the two on the side can
be opened out. They are provided with hooks at their ends in which no
doubt straps were fastened ; these could be tied round the sheath to keep
it in position. The marks of these straps are still easily recognizable on the
blade. Individual parts of such axe-sheaths have also been found. The
axes have a hole through which handles could be fixed ; their form seems
to indicate that they were used for felling trees. Another tool, the
hatchet-knife, which had also a sheath or covering, was probably used for
sharpening stakes that were to be thrust into the ground, or for making
fascines, and so forth. Strong rivets are still preserved on the short thick
tang to which the solid handle was fixed (Figs. 100 and loi). These axes
and hatchets were very serviceable. In the Taunus (Germany), for
example, where no soft fir-wood was available at the time of the Romans,
sturdy oaks had to be felled which were then cut into beams no less
than 45 ft. long by means of a chip-axe ; such beams were used to
fortify the banks of the Main at Stockstadt. Even in the early times of
Theophrastus (390 to 300 b.c.) the Greeks had discovered the fact that it
is by no means a matter of indifference what season of the year is chosen
to fell trees. For Theophrastus {Hist. Plant. V, i, etseq.) states that in the
case of trees which are not to be lopped but only to be peeled it is best to
fell them when they are full of sap, as the rind can then be more easily
detached. On the other hand, the trees that are to be lopped are best
felled when the fruits are ripe. Theophrastus formulates the following
rule giving the best times for felling trees of various sorts : the silver-fir,
fir and pine in the spring ; the holm-oak, the elm, the maple, the manna-
ash, the beech and the linden-tree in the early autumn ; the oak, however,
at the beginning of the winter.
THE TYPES OF WOOD
The trees just enumerated at the same time give us a survey of the
various kinds of wood most in use among the Greeks. We must add
that the Egyptians used, first and foremost, the Nile acacia (locust tree),
which was difficult to treat on account of its twisted fibre ; they also
used the sycamore, the date-palm, the dum-palm, several Syrian conifers,
and the ebony tree. The Romans and Greeks used besides these the oak,
the box-tree, the alder, the silver-fir, the cedar, the willow and a number
of other less common woods. This gives us a general idea of the kinds
of wood used in antiquity. Among them several, for example, ebony,
were chiefly applied to making articles of luxury, whereas others, like the
willow and the alder, were used for wicker-work. The cedar was valued
as a building material. For the rest, the principle of procuring the
wood from the nearest source was generally followed. For example,
the cedar which occurs so often in the south as a building material is met
with but seldom in the Roman provinces that lay north of the Alps,
where its use was regarded as a luxury.
CARPENTER’S TOOLS AND CARPENTRY
71
CARPENTER’S TOOLS AND CARPENTRY
At the time of the ancient Egyptians, even as far back as 3500 b.c.,
carpenters and joiners used bronze axes for wood- working, the heads being
Fig. 103.-— Wood-working in Egypt
(Upper row, left to right) : i. Working with a chisel and a hatchet, whose head is tied to a bent wooden handle fadye
2. Bench with inlay-work. _ 3. Planing. The man uses a piece of metal to test whS the
planed smooth. Adjacent is an adze, which serves as a plane, stuck into a block of wood ; the curved surface is fastened
MSP nT leather. We also see a set-square and a stand in which the rectangular g^i as fti the
^ IS stuck, serves as a rest for the pieces of wood that are to be worked (?)
Above, a chest (?). (Bottom row) : 4. Smoothing a wooden pillar ; ancl 5. wooden coffins for mummies. Wall-
paintings. Thebes.
tied to the bronze handles by leather straps. They also used chisels,
having the blade part fixed into a wooden handle, which was struck with
a wooden hammer. The form of the chisels resembled our own As a
plane they used a sort of adze the flat surface of which was fastened to a
handle that was bent upwards. Wooden sur-
faces could also be planed by means of a peculiar
little hatchet, whose blade was shaped like a
half-moon or was bent (Fig. 103, top row, on
the right : the axe is wedged into a wooden
block). The curved side served as the edge;
the flat side was tied to the handle. By turn-
ing this blade at right angles to the handle we
get the adze, which was much used by the
Egyptians.
The most detailed investigations about the
tools used ill ancient carpentry have without
doubt been made by Bliimner, whom in the main we shall follow in our
present account.
The fact that only the pointed saw was used has already been men-
tioned ; but, as our pictures show, it is often of considerable length and
Fig, 104. — Egyptian Saw.
A wood-cutter sawing
through a vertical tree-
trunk
72
WOOD-WORKING
provided with a handle at
the end, which also seems
to have carried a pad or a
guard near the blade. For
boring the so-called bow-
drill was used, It was fixed
in a wooden holder which
ended in a block held in
the left hand, so that the
drill could be pressed into
the piece of material to be
bored. The end block and
the holder were probably
not in one piece. Rather,
the wooden holder rested
loosely in the block (see
Fig. 107). The string of a
bow was passed round the
holder, so that by moving
the bow back and forth the
drill was made to turn (Fig.
1 19). Borers were also
used which were pressed
against the chest. They
were of similar form to the
above and were manipu-
lated by turning the hol-
der by hand. The form of
the drill-point itself is un-
known. The older drills
were probably in the shape
of a nail with an edge.
The drilling produced ■ no
chips, but only drill-dust, which was expelled by reversing the direction of
drilling. Later, the screw-
auger became known ; the
earliest picture of it occurs
in an old manuscript copy of
the poems of Hesiod, which
dates back to the eighth or
ninth century B.c.^ This
drill has the form of a nail
with rectangular cross-sec-
tion which has had its ver-
tex turned through four
right angles on its own axis
1 A curious con fusion between that date of Hesiod himself and tluit of the MS. Save
for a few fragments, no MS. of Hesiod is olderthan the twelfth century A.u. — Trans,
Fig,_ 108. — Egyptian Woodwork
Wooden Toys (animal and pitchers with and without a lid).
Berlin Museum, Egyptian Section
Figs. 105-107. — -Mallet, two-bevelled Chisel and
Drill (Egyptian or Coptic)
To the drill there is to be added a hoI!owed-out piece of wood in
which the thinned end of the holder turns. Berlin Museum, Egyp-
tian Section
CARPENTER’S TOOLS AND CARPENTJ>^Y
73
while the other end has been held fixed, so that four helical edges, rather
blunt, remain. This drill, too, leaves only dust, no chips. Stemes with
a smooth face were used to polish the surface of the wood.
Fig. loij. — Working with a Chisel at
wooden statue of Mermes. Picture on a
Athenian dish
Cabinet ef Aiitiijiits, Copniili:iKC>u
I'iGS. 1 10-112.— Roman Sa\
rramc-B!uv, pit-.saw aufi fret-saw
113. — Roman Saw
crossed teeth
-Various type.s of Roman Drills
Left to hiftlit : Two dcmble-ccli(<'il drills, front and side view ;
ordinary drill, front and side view ; centre-bit.
Museum, Zurich
Fig. 115. — Roman Plane
With a grip at an angle inclined to tlic direetiim in which
it is puslied, and with holes for the shavings to fall
through. On a marble tombstone at Kastatt
In later times all of these car-
penter’s tools were further im-
proved. Their form approached
the modern types more and more
nearly. Among the Greeks and
Romans axes of very varied con-
struction appear, in which the
handle is stuck through a hole,
mostly so as to project beyond the
other side. The chisel persisted in
its original form. I'he saw was made
Fig. 1 16. — Cupids as Catpentors
On llie left, wooden folding doors, sau’ing-bcnch con-
sistiug of a boar<l resting on two trestles ; resting on
it is a board on the left in. the process of being sawn
through (Rich here regards the blade of the saw as
being in the middle, that is, a pit-saw ; Oberbeek, Hcl-
big ,Blumner and others consider the blade as being at
the bottom of the saw. Uie original is rather obliter-
ated. On the right is a board fastened by a sort of
screw-clamp. Below is a Iio-k:. To the right, above, is a
drill (?) resting in a hole in a shelf (Bliinmer assumes
this to be a vessel or a lamp). Wali-pajiiting in Hercu-
■ kneuB!
WOOD-WORKING
74
considerably handier. It is stretched in a curved frame, to which it
is attached like the string to a bow. Then, it is held taut in a rectangular
frame in such a way that it connects the mid-points of the two short side
arms and runs parallel to the two long arms. The blade of the saw and
its edge are either perpendicular or parallel to the plane of the frame.
Finally our present form of saw also appeared, in which the blade of
the saw is stretched by a cord. There are saws of this kind having
sizes ranging from those of small hand-saws to those of large pit-saws.
An ancient Roman saw in the Antiquarium at Zurich shows the crossing
120
I2I
122
Figs, i 17-122. — Carpentry
Fig. 117. — Sawing through a board which is, as usual, propped up against a bench. In sawing through long boards
a second workman, who guided the saw, stood on the board. The board was supported not only by the bench, but also
by a tree-trunk against which it rested. Fig. 118. — Smoothing a board with the smoothing hatchet (or splitting a
board, which Bliimner also considers possible) . Fig, 119. — ^Boring a hole with a bow-drill. Fig. 120. — Hollowing out a
board by means of a hammer and chisel. (Bliim ler assumes tliat the board is being split, but that could hardly be
accomplished in this way.) Fig. 121.— Planing by means of a jack-plane. Fig. 122. — Trimming a piece of wood,
which is to be carv'ed or used for some finer purpose, by means of a hatchet. (Bliimner assumes that finishing touches
are being put to an object by means of a parer ; against this, however, there is the shape of the knife and the position
of the arm, which seems rather to indicate rough chopping, that is, trimming.) Painted base of a glass vessel out of
the Catacombs (Vatican Library)
of the teeth (Fig. 113). Among the Greeks and the Romans, too, the
borer was at first a bow-driU, a type that is early mentioned by Flomer
{Odyssey, IX, 384) ; . . . while I from my place aloft turned it about, as
when a man bores a ship's beam with a drill while his fellows below spin
it with a strap, which they hold at either end, and the auger runs round
continually.’ ^
1 Butcher and Lang, English Prose Translation, Macmillan & Co., London,
Combs
76
WOOD-WORKING
A borer that became particularly important was that which, in the
form of a Gallic drill, was used as a wimble-scoop. It had two edges, so
that it could cut when turned in either direction. Since the borer was at
that time worked by twisting the handle or by drawing a bow to and
fro (Fig. 1 1 9), it was in both cases far more convenient to alternate the
direction of the motion than to keep it unidirectional. In Zurich there
is also a centre-bit which dates back to Roman times.
The plane in general preserved its original form ; it had a spade-
shaped blade sharpened in front, and was provided with a handle ; later
this blade was perforated with holes whose purpose is not clear. Still
later the blade was fastened into a wooden block as at the present time.
The lathe was also known to the ancients. It is mentioned by Pliny
(VII, 198), and numerous relics testify to the works' performed on it.
What its appearance was is not known. It can only be surmised that,
like the grindstone, it was driven by means of a treadle. ^
^ The present-day Arab wood-turners use a bow-lathe (cf. the bow- drill in Fig.
1 1 9) which is probably derived from the ancient Egyptians. It still survives in
Europe in the ' turn bench ’ of the watch and clock makers. See Useful Arts and
Handicrafts, by Leland and Ward, Vol. 2, p. 17, Dawbarn & Ward, Ltd., 1900.-—
H.L. B.
PREPARATION AND TREATMENT OF
LEATHER
TANNING
L eather played an important part in antiquity. Untanned
hides, which were probably the oldest form of dress among all
peoples, tended to decay and often lasted only a vshort time. So
it may be presumed that steps were early taken to make them more
durable by subjecting them to special treatment. It is not known what
were the earliest methods of tanning. It is conjectured that the skins
were first softened in water so that the hairs could be more readily re-
moved. They were then treated with juices extracted from plants, — in
some parts of Asia Minor
possibly with the juice from
periploca secamone, which
is still used for tanning by
the Arabians nowadays,
and so probably served the
same purpose in antiquity.
Whether the Egyptians
used it seems doubtful. It
was at any rate a sort of
tanning ; for it must be
presumed that the action
was due to the tannic acid
contained in the plant.
Many of the means
nowadays used for tan- 125. -Preparation of Leather in Egypt
. , , . Oil the right, above, wft apparently see the production of the tarmiag
ning were also used in an- J solution (the tanninu substances are being pounded in a vessel).
Bclow, OH thc right, the hides are being soaked; below, on the left,
tiquity. Above ail, every r depilation is being performed on a seraping block. Further, we see
cvf +1-00 fini-lo hides, pieces Of leather (above, the rectangular piece on the left), vessels,
variety OX ti ee-rintis, suen skins with borders (three superposed in the luiddle. towards the right)
as those of the alder
(Theophrastus) ; further, parts of fruits, such as of pomegranates,
acorns and so forth, were used. Besides this, numerous other plants and
parts of plants were used, of which tannic acid is a constituent. "J'awing
was also known (Pliny, XXXV, 190) and salt was used ; indeed, accord-
ing to Wilkinson, the Egyptians are supposed to have used lime ; but this
seems little likely, as burnt lime can be used without harming the hide
only if extreme caution is exercised, and unbiirnt lime is not a tanning
78 PREPARATION AND TREATMENT OF LEATHER
agent at
(chamois-
all. Nor has it been possible to prove whether oil was used
■dressing). The methods of treating leather that were most
^ prevalent in antiquity
r — were thus probably ordin-
I ary tanning and tawing.
Hides of very varied sorts
|/\>^ were tanned by these pro-
t uU i;' M cesses, those of domestic
S' animals as well as those of
I \ I/TV ip^l H I ■ j other game and
IZ I itl -..--bil of beasts of prey. There
Fig. 126.— -Leather Work in. Egypt
On the Icift ; Pieces of leather are being perforated by an awl ; below
is a scraping block with an iron scraper and punches ; on the block
is the hide that is to be worked (in the original painting it is spotted,
so that probably it is a leopard skin) ; above it are. rectangular pieces
of leather. The next figure shows leather being stretched over a rack;
the third and fourth men are engaged similarly to the first. Above
are pieces of leather, hides and tools (for beating, scraping, and comb-
ing, etc.)
was thus no lack of variety
in the leather.
The tools used for tan-
ning are known to us only
from a single discovery in
Pompeii. They consist of
Fig. 127. — Leather Work in Egypt
Smoothing leather on a supporting base, with the help of a polishing
stone (?), and (below) splitting leather with a knife. On the right :
Stretching and softening leather by pulling it over a rack
a bronze scraper which is
fastened by rivets to a
wooden handle. Then
there is a long concave
scraping knife (two speci-
mens have been found) ;
and, thirdly, a small curved
knife, whose probable use
is indicated by the fact
that nowadays furriers and
other workers in leather
still use a curved knife
whose crescent-shaped edge
is sharpened along its
whole length. It is re-
markable that in the an-
:y— r: — ; r— 7 r ^ ^ cient Egyptian wall paint-
; £ . I - If GOO 2 b ings at Thebes similar
« Z' ' ' ■
' ■ ’ depicted dressing
^ rfl ' leather. Further, there
M i S found in the same
place stones for poli.shing
\v leather, tablets which
i.l; n i served as a rest when it
Fig. 128.— Leather Work in Egypt being CUt, forms OVer
Froru left to right : Scraping a suspended hide by means of a scraper ; Which it WaS bcut, and SO
pummelling, stretching and softening leather by drawing it over a forth Tho -nirtnrcic
rack. The activities of the two men on the right are not clear Ui. illC piCIUreS ailOW
US to observe how the
ancients used punches, knives, scrapers, borers and needles, and also
racks for drawing and stretching leather.
THE USES OF LEATHER
79
THE USES OF LEATHER
It is seen from the preceding section that the Egyptians had at their
disposal a fairly ext cu-
es I sive set of tools for work-
ill I ing leather. The eqiiip-
sive set of tools for work-
ing leather. The equip-
ment of the Greeks and
Romans f was probably
/
iyy<
Figs. 129 and 130. — Cutting Soles in an ancient
Egyptian shoemaker’s workshop
Fig. T31. — Pummelling a
Leather Sole
icri' srt'ins no Ktlw-r possiblo intf'rpret.i-
)ii of this i)i<;tHrc : if shows that cvfii in
osc early times soles we.re treated ju.st
as at the present time
Egyptian shoemaker s workshop elaborate, as is
'I'hc picture is probably to be interiireted as follows : Above, from left to frnrn mimiarr'inc
riK'ht, soakiiif* the leather ami softening it by punmiellinK or hammering KIIUWII iXUlit UUs
between two stones ; drawing ami stretehing it over a raek. The pieture civrnrrotinnc onrl «p\rprnl
below : Cutting out soles on a support tXCaVclUUllS ailU ht-VCiai
descriptions. Knives have
been found that resemble onr own, and other finds show that shoe-
maker’s awls mounted on wooden handles were used. An important
point ^ was ^established by // /
lasts ^ were ^in' use^ ^
leather were then joined 132 -— a Greek .Shoemaker's Workshop
tOP'Cther bv mearm nf The customer is standing on the table on the piece of leather out of wliirh
• \ the master (on the left) is about to cut the sole hy means of the creseent-
tendons from animals or knife. The assistant on the right (ac(;ording to Bliinmer) is
1 T ,1 ,1 holding the piece of leather intended for the upper part of the. shoe. On
IW leatlier thongs. I he theshelftotheleft, pincers and awls; on the wall, two pieces of leather
suspend^ by a loop, two lasts and a basket. Below the table is a
joins V\ ere sometimes vessel which (m the opinion of the author) contains water for softening
/iffppf pH 'htr rnrp+in cr ■ in just as we find it under every shoemaker’s table nowadays.
ClitOLCU Uy liVtLlIlg , m- The same sort of vessel is to be seen under the table in other Greek
deed nieces of leather pictures. From a picture on a vase out of the Bom-guignon c-ollcction
ciGcu, puGGCb Ui U-dLllCl m Naples, and now in Boston
8o PREPARATION AND TREATMENT OF LEATHER
were set with nails or rivets, partly for decorative purposes and
partly to protect them. The soles consisted either of leather or of wood,
and were sometimes nailed. There is every kind of shoe from the
Fig. 133. — Roman Soles
From k‘f t to ris'lit : Two nailed soles for the right foot ; a sandal spread out Hat
rests, and above the latter is the so-called inner-sole). Below is an awl and a shoemaicer’s Unite.
Found at Mainz. Museum of .■Antiquities, Mainz
daintiest women’s shoes to the coarsest soldiers’ shoes, sandals as well as
boots. There were right and left shoes, made on the corresponding lasts.
Dagger sheaths of leather and similar coverings were made over wooden
forms that had previously
been cut into the appro-
priate shape.
The chemical treatment
of leather serves the pur-
pose of colouring and pre-
serving it. Madder and
vermilion were chiefly used
to colour it, and copper
vitriol (sulphate) was used
to Stain it black ; the
black colour is due to the
copper salt reacting chemi-
cally with the tanning sub-
stance in the leather. In
general, however, the
leather was worn in its natural colour. To preserve it, oil was rubbed
in (Pliny, XV, 34).
Fig. 134. — Roman Sandals, Shoes, Nailed Soles
Found at Mainz. Museum of Antiquities, MMnz
AGRICULTURE
AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS
T he oldest implement of agriculture is probably the digging stick,
which has appropriately been likened to a lengthened and hard-
ened finger. In antiquity this stick developed into the plough
through stages of whose existence there are no records, but which are
rendered probable by observations taken from primitive peoples. It
may be supposed that the staff was early weighted by a stone having
a central hole. In this way a digging stick was obtained such as is
still used by the Bushmen of South Africa. By thrusting this stick-*
into the ground and placing the foot on the stone, one obtained a
Fig. 137. — Bushman
Digging Stick
Fig. 138. — In the foreground is the Mattock or
Hoe, behind is the Hoe-plough of the Red
Indians of Colombia
lever (Fig. 137) ; this enabled the ground to- be loosened and turned
over more readily than was possible with a simply pointed stick. To
increase the rate of working the lower part of this primitive implement
was broadened, and so the spade was evolved. A particularly convenient
form of this spade offered itself now and then in nature : a strong bough
with a branch inclined at an acute angle allowed greater power to be
applied and one could thus dig more deeply. It was in this form that
the hoe was first used (Fig. 138), and from it there developed the plough :
for by reversing the hoe so that its blade is no longer directed forwards
82
AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS 83
but backwards, and by harnessing draught-cattle to its long handle, we
arrive at the plough (Fig. 138). It is in this form that the plough occurs
in antiquity. It has preserved this shape throughout thousands of years
(Fig. 140), although improved forms were also devised. Even in late
Roman times such ploughs were probably not infrequently used.
Alongside of this, however, a de-
velopment occurs which shows rapidly
increasing mechanical advantage in
its various stages. The bough with
the bent hoe-like limb for an end is
not always easy to find in Nature
in the exactly appropriate form, as
the end is usually too narrow. This
limb was therefore generally prepared
separately and then either bound or
fastened on to the branch by pegs.
Ploughshare and shaft were likewise
individually prepared. Joined to-
gether they formed a plough (Fig.
141). Wooden ploughs of this type were used by the Babylonians ;
they are preserved to us from Egyptian times. The Romans preferred
special sorts of wood for making them, above all the common oak, the
kermes oak, the laurel and the elm. The ploughshare was often made
of metal, as it then wears off less soon and cannot be so easily damaged
by stones as in the case of a wooden share ; moreover, on account
of its heavier weight and
sharper edge the bronze
or iron share cuts through
the soil more readily.
But this plough had
yet one fault : it could be
guided only with dif&culty.
For this purpose a special
handle, the plough-tail, was
added, which served to
direct it. In the course of
time two tails were added,
as this enabled both hands
to be used in guiding the
plough. Also, the plough-
beam, the shaft, became
lengthened, and finally, to
facilitate manipulation, a special connection, the sole, was inserted be-
tween the beam and the handle. This improved hoe-plough is the form
in wdiich we encounter the plough among many peoples of antiquity,
particularly among those of the Near East and certain of the Mediter-
ranean peoples (Egyptians and Etruscans). It was also used by the
Greeks and the Romans wherever the soil was soft owing to frequent
Fig. 140. — Greek Hoe-piough. Vase painting
Berlin. Altes Museviin, Antiquarium
Fig. 139. — The Iron Blade of a Coptic
Hoe (form of the Egj’piian hoe) used
for loosening the soil
Berlin. Altes Musimiiii, Egyptian Section
AGRICULTURE
84
rains. It was found to be particularly useful at places like the Delta
of the Nile or the inundated parts of the Euphrates, where the rivers
deposit a soft and therefore easily worked mud which is free from
stones.
But wherever the cultivation of the soil made higher demands on the
plough, the latter was improved still further. This was the case particu-
larly with the Greeks and the Romans, who used improved ploughs
simultaneously with the hoe-plough just described. The various parts,
that is the beam (temo), the tail {stiva), the handle {manicula) , ^nd the tail
{buns or hum), were retained (particularly by the Romans), but the share
was placed obliquely to allow a special share-beam [dentale] to be added,
by which the plough could be more effectively directed. The form of the
plough was at first that of a wedge, and so it was called ‘ vomer ’ . To
Fig. i^i. — Kaffirs -with Composite Ploughs, such as were also used by many peoples of
antiquity, and Mattocks
turn the ploughed-up sod of earth over the share was turned to one side,
being made in the form of a right-angled triangle, and was furnished with a
board. Finally the ploughshare and the mould-board were curved into
the shape of a helical surface (screw-like) and so an extended arched
blade rostratus) was obtained which entailed a far less expenditure
of energy in pulling the plough and turning the sod. But since the grassy
surface of the soil can be cut only with difficulty by this share, so that it
still requires considerable power to direct the plough, a special coulter is
fastened in front of the blade to cut the surface before the share reaches it.
This coulter (cuUer) , as well as the frame which carries wheels (which was
also added later), is to be found even in ancient Greek ploughs. In this
way there developed among the Greeks, and more particularly among the
Romans, a type of plough which in the later period resembled the simple
farm plough of modern times. Numerous specimens, especially of the
ploughshares and coulters, have been found.
THE METHOD OF PLOUGHING
85
THE METHOD OF PLOUGHING
Herodotus (II, 14) reports of the Egyptians that lived below Memphis :
‘ They do not need to break up furrows with the plough, nor to hoe, nor
to perform any of the work which troubles other people in tilling, for the
river comes of its own accord on to their fields and irrigates them, and
when it has done so, it leaves them. Each husbandman then sows his
field and drives pigs on to it ; and when the pigs have trampled the
seeds into the soil, he waits for the harvest-time, when he threshes out the
corn again by means of pigs and brings it into his granary.’ This passage
might lead us to the erroneous conclusion that ploughs were not used in
one of the most important parts of Egypt. But this certainly does not
apply as Herodotus’ remarks would lead us to believe. Concerning
ploughing among the ancient Egyptians, Diodorus (136) in the first century
B.c. and Columella {De re rustica, HI, 25) in the first century A.D., narrate
that the Egyptians made
shallow furrows in the
.surface of the land by
means of light ploughs, a
mode of ploughing that
the Romans called scari-
Jicatio. Pictures and
manifold remains of an-
cient Egyptian ploughing
have been handed down
to us, which give us de-
tailed information about
the form and manipu-
lation of the plough.
According to these repre- Fig. 142.— Egyptian Hoe. Length 28 in.
sentations, the Egyptians BorUn Museum, Egyptian Section
seem to have had a prefer-
ence for using the rake in addition to the plough. This rake was of
wood and resembled the capital letter A (Fig. 142). The cro.ss-piece of
the A is made of a piece of twisted rope. Further, the seed was often
scattered in front of the plough so that it was ploughed straight into
the ground. In the case of dry sods of soil the Egyptian plough often
seems not to have achieved its purpose. This may be inferred from the
fact that on a drawing on the tomb of Kha-em-hat workers are seen
walking in front of the plough who are breaking up the sods with a
.sort of hammer.
Deeper furrows than those of the Egyptians were made by the Romans,
who were, indeed, excellent farmers. They were acquainted (as were also
the Egyptians) with manures and the rotation of crops (Pliny, XVII, 6 ;
XVI H, 53, and so forth), as well as intermittent farming (fallow one year,
cultivated soil the next). The fallow fields were used as pasture land.
The Roman husbandman did not simply plough to and fro, but mostly
cross-ways ; indeed, he sometimes ploughed the same field seven times
86
AGRICULTURE
before he proceeded to sow. Various accounts give us information about
the advanced development of the methods of tilling the soil. M. Terentius
Varro (116-27 b.c.) writes in his De re rustica, i, 29, 2 : ‘ When ploughing
is being done for the third time after sowing, little boards are attached
to the share, thus covering up the sown seed in the rows and making
furrows in which the rain-water may run off.' But Pliny, who was
already acquainted with four types of ploughs (XVIII, 171), describes
the use of the harrow {rastrum) (XVIII, 180) by which the clods of
earth were broken up, the grass surface was destroyed and the weeds
were removed ; ' After the field has been ploughed for the second time
it is harrowed either by means of a frame of interlaced twigs (carrying
thorns) or with a proper harrow, according to whichever is necessary, and
when the sowing has been done, the harrowing is repeated.’ For the
rest, the harrow was also known to the Egyptians and Jews ; the
Greeks, on the other hand, seem not to have used it.
Concerning the ways and means used by the Germanic tribes in
agriculture, unfortunately only very little has been handed down to
posterity, at least as regards the treatment of the soil. Tacitus merely
states : ‘ The land to be cultivated is changed every year and a part
is always left fallow. For they do not strive with industry to increase
the productiveness of the soil and the area of cultivation by planting
fruit trees, marking off pasture land or watering gardens. The German
demands only corn from the soil. Therefore he does not divide the
year into four seasons ; he has the words and ideas of winter, spring and
summer, but autumn, as also her gifts, are unknown to him.’ Numerous
finds of prehistoric times, and in particular of the La Tbne period stretch-
ing from 400 B.c. to the birth of Christ, lead us to conclude that at the
dawn of history agricultural implements, in particular ploughs, which
resembled those of the Romans, were also used in Germania. It has been
established that they used the movable mould-board (or breast) which
could be set to the right or to the left, as well as the fixed mould -board.
Hoes were also used in cultivating the soil.
THE TREATMENT OF CORN
The sickle and the scythe likewise occur among almost all peoples of
antiquity at the first dawn of history. At the beginning of Egyptian
history blades were stiU made of flint, but later they were made of
bronze and iron. The blade is often toothed. For the rest, these
implements resembled our own fairly closely in form, manipulation
and action.
The corn that had been harvested was threshed ; originally this was
probably performed by an extremely primitive method, namely by
driving animals, chiefly oxen, over the scattered stalks. How old this
method is can be gathered from the fact that it is mentioned by Homer
[Iliad, XX, 495):
‘ For even as when one yoketh wide-horned bulls to tread white barley
THE TREATMENT OF CORN 87
in a stablished threshing-floor, and quickly is it trodden out beneath the
feet of the loud-lowing bulls. . . ^
The oxen, which were urged on by drivers, were often replaced by
other animals, such as mules, and probably asses and horses. Flails were
also used ; they were not, however, provided with a movable swingle but
consisted only of rods with which the corn was beaten (see Fig. 167,
above on the right, p, loi). The Romans had threshing-machines, of
which a particular form, plostellum Poenicum, is supposed to have been
invented by the Carthaginians. We do not know what its appearance
Fig. 143. —Roman Agricultural Implements
was, but probably it was shaped like a roller. Another type of threshing
inachinc, trihulum, described by Varro {De re rusiica, 152), was a wooden
plate roughened underneath by stones or iron and weighted by means of
stones as well as by the weight of the driver ; this was drawn over the
corn by oxen. The grains appear to have been pressed or squeezed out
by the roughened .surface. Yarrq’s description does not give a clear
picture of the implement, but it probably resembled that which is still used
1 Prose Translation by Lang, Leaf and. Myers, Macmillan & Co., London.
88 AGRICULTURE
nowadays by the Syrians and some Arabian tribes. The latter consists of
a wooden sledge in the shape of a chair, under the runners of which sharp
stones are fastened ; they are drawn by oxen. Varro's Latin text also
allows this interpretation.
Threshing was followed by winnowing, that is, separating out the
chaff. The corn was placed into shallow woven baskets shaped like a
bowl or into flat wooden barrels of moderate size which could be con-
veniently packed together on their narrow sides. (It is proved by exca-
vations that this was done by the Egyptians.) So soon as a strong wind
blew, the contents were whirled into the air. If no wind was available, it
was generated artificially, as old Egyptian pictures show, by fanning
with a fan or a brush. The Greeks and Romans used a sieve. The
heavy grains fell back into the baskets while the lighter chaff was
scattered by the wind. The spade w^'as also used for a similar purpose
(see Fig, 167, above in the middle, p. loi). Wooden forks were in some
cases applied to effecting this separation of chaff from the grain. By
this process the corn was sufficiently prepared to allow it to be utilized
for its proper purpose, namely, to making food, in particular bread, and
to preparing beverages. It was kept as grain in granaries from which
it was taken when required,
FERMENTATION
THE BAKERY
I N the case of probably all the peoples of antiquity, baking bread was a
purely domestic matter which occupied the housewife and her servants.
The profession of the baker came into being comparatively late,
namely during the war against King Perseus of Macedonia in the year 582
from the founding of the city of Rome (Pliny , XVIII, 107) . This was about
171 B.c. Until that date ail the individual steps necessary for preparing
bread, that is grinding the grain, mi.ving the. dough, allowing it to rise,
baking and so forth, w-ere carried out in the home. Nor did the advent of
the professional baker succeed in entirely stopping the making of breiid in
the home ; just as nowadays in many households, particularly in smaller
towns and in the country, ‘home-made’ bread is .still met with.
The baker was also the miller, as is prov('d by discoveries in Pompeii
among others, where the mills and the bakeries lie together in one
property. These two trades, milling and baking, became separated at a
still later period.
This course of development was not without its influence on the process
itself. The utensils used were at first .so designed that they could also be
manipulated by the weaker sex. Later, they were made larger, more
efficient and adapted to trade requirements. lunally, however, milling
proceeded along its own lines, producing at a far greater rate than was
necessary merely for bakeries. The miller enlisted the help of machinery,
and above all, water power, in order to provide as great a number of
bakeries and households as possible with flour.
MILLING CORN
It may be generally assumed that the corn used for milling was in the
state in which it was left after it had been cleared of chaff by being
winnowed or passed through a sieve. In some cases, however, the milling
was preceded by a special treatment aimed at facilitating the removal of
the husk from the grain. This treatment consisted in roasting the corn.
The roasting was performed either with or without moistening the corn ;
this was first applied to barley, but later also to other forms of corn, such as
spelt (Gemian wheat). The purpose of moistening the corn beforehand
was to effect by an osmotic process a preliminary separation of the husk
from the cells containing starch-flour in the grain. The husk and its
content swell up by different amounts when soaked, The moisture first
swells up the husk, soaks through it in virtue of osmosis and thus arrives
FERMENTATION
go
at the grain, which likewise swells up. When distended to the maximum
extent, they are pressed hai'd against each other. If the corn is then dried
the husk and the grain shrink to different amounts and this causes a
general loosening of the configuration. The roasting makes the husk
brittle, so that when subjected to mechanical treatment, which consists
of pounding, it easily breaks oM. The corn was roafsted either on or
between hot stones or in an oven, after having been placed in a special
vessel. The grains were separated from the husks, after the roasting and
stamping were finished, by means of sieves.
Grind, mill, grind !
For Pittakos also grinds,
The ruler of great Mytilene,
So runs an ancient song quoted by Plutarch (about a.d. 50-120), and
since also in the Old Testament of the Bible and in the Edda such ‘ millers’
songs ’ are mentioned, we may assume that in ancient times, too, milling
was a cheerful occupation often accompanied by song ; and this also shows
that although the technical appliances used were very primitive the work
involved was far less of a strain than
might appear at first sight. The
oldest form of milling consisted of
rubbing and pounding the corn.
Ancient Egyptian pictures and,
in particular, beautiful carvings,
as well as more or less roughly
finished grave-gifts, disclose how
this grinding was accomplished.
A stone which in many cases had
its upper surface hollowed out like
a flat bowl was sloped off or set
up so that its front end lay
deeper than its rear end. The
woman kneeled down on the latter and ground the corn in the
hollow which sloped down in front of her by means of a second
smaller stone. The motion was not merely one of pure sliding but
consisted also of a knocking action. The Romans were therefore
right later, wFen other kinds of milling came into use, in speaking of
this kind of mill as a 7 nola trusatilis, which may be rendered by the
term ‘ knocking mill Since tmsare indicates energetic knocking, this
expression also betrays the important fact that in using these mills
rubbing and crushing played a secondary part compared with striking.
For rubbing and crushing we find stones employed that were not hollowed
out ; with them were used flat grinding-stones with a large area of base,
such as we see in the ancient Egyptian carvings above-mentioned. Later
improvements in milling did not succeed in supplanting these old grind-
ing, crushing and knocking mills. On the site of encampments of Roman
soldiers stationed on the borders of Germania, rubbing-bowls were found,
which were made of clay, into which quartz fragments had been pressed.
In them the soldiers rubbed up the grains of wheat, after having previous^
Figs. 144 and 145.—- Millstones of Trachyte
Diameter™ g in, and ii in. respectively. Found at
Hissarlik (Troy)
MILLING CORN 91
added water. By this means they obtained a pap ready lor baking
without requiring the immediate step of making flour. In view of tlu;
comparatively small amount of energy expended in milling by any of the
above-named processes, the out-
put was not strikingly large. At
the suggestion of Heron de Ville-
fosse Ringelmann made experi-
ments in the Institut National
Agronomique in Paris which showed
that the grinding led to no proper
flour but only to a sort of groats.
In the course of an hour only about
10 ounces of ground corn was ob-
tained. Villefranche infers from
this that before mills were im-
proved only comparatively little
bread and bread-cakes were eaten
and that they were probably a
luxury. We are probably correct
in surmising that the corn was
soaked and then boiled, as is still
done nowadays in the case of
beans, peas and lentils.
This is corroborated by two
passages in Homer, Iliad, XVIII,
558-560, and Odyssey, XIV, 76, 77.
The former mentions a ‘ mash ’ made of white barley, and the second
relates that white barley-meal was used for sprinkling over the roast,
‘ crumbing ' it, as we should now say. Pliny (XVIII, 19) also writes of
pap or dumplings {offa) made of
the crushed grain.
The low grade of efficiency of
these earliest mills which had been
so long in use finally led to their
being greatly improved among the
various peoples. Without such
progress, indeed, it would be im-
possible to imagine achievements
such as, for example, those of the
Papyrus Rollin in Paris which re-
ports that 114,064 loaves of bread
were on one occasion delivered by
the master of the king’s bakery.
A first improvement Was effected
in Egypt by making the mill-
stone higher so that the work was done in a standing instead of in a
sitting posture. Such mill-stones sprang into being in the New Kingdom.
The women who did the work were next replaced by men. For example,
Fig. 148. — Rubbing Dish of Clay with
quartz fragments embedded in it
Found on the site of an encuimpment on the Roman-
Germaii border. Museum at Mainz
Fig. 140.— Egyptian Grinding-stone for
grinding down corn
Length = 5-4 in. Fnuul at Tliebrs. Rerlin Museum,
Egyptian Department
Fkl 147. — A Servant grinding Corn.
Egyptian Carving in Limestone
Tlie Itody is painted reddish-brown, apron white, grind-
ing-stone red. I^ength is 16 in. Found at Saqiiavah.
Berlin Museiun, ligyptiaii Department
FERMENTATION
92
it is reported of Samson in the Bible (Judges xvi. 21) ' and lie did grind
in the prison house’ ; it is also corroborated by various drawings. In
(irt'cco and Rome, however, and probably also in other countries, free-
men ('ould not be forced to grind against their will. This was work
for slaves and criminals, who were often prevented by means of a
broad wooden collar placed round
the neck from partaking of the
corn or the flour.
Besides the mill-stone the mor-
tar was also much used for pound-
ing the corn. Such appliances were
found by Schliemann in the exca-
vations at Troy ; they consisted
of a mortar made of basalt and a
pestle of hard limestone which did
not, apparently, belong together.
Probably the two parts were
always made of the same material
Furthermore, pictures on vases
and, above all, a delightful Tan-
agra figure in the Berlin Museum,
which dates back to the fifth century r.c,, clearly shows how the pounding
was performed, llu* mortar proper rested on a stand whose height w^as
such that its up])er rim reached about to the knee of the worker, or else it
and the stand were made of one piece. The pe.stle was of wmod, about
30 to 39 in. long, and narrow^ed clowm at the middle so that it could be
conveniently grasped (Fig. 151).
The hnv efficiency of all these contrivances
early created a desire for further improve-
ments, and so, simultaneously with the mill-
stone, there developed the mill, of wdiose exist-
ence there is some evidence among almost all
peoples of antiquity. Thus, w^hen the Jews
were prisoners of the Babylonians, they. had to
transport mill-stones (Lamentations v. 13) ; and
Deuteronomy (xxiv. 6) contains the command-
ment : ‘ No man shall take the nether or the
iq)per mill- stone.’ Homer writes in the
Odyssey (VII, 104, and elsewhere) of 'mills’,
meaning probably querns or hand-mills. And
in Egypt, too, the use of mills is confirmed,
although no w^'aH- drawings are preserved
which, depict them. All these mills were at first hand-mills and
probably looked very much alike in all countries. The hand-mill con-
sisted of two stones, of w^hich the lower was fixed while the other w^as
rotated on it. Originally the upper stone was probably ahvays lifted
off when fresh grain had to be added. Later, how^ever, the upper
stone ha,d a hole in the centre while the lower had a projection which
pounding Grain in a Mortar
i’if-'turo on a Greek vasie
Figs.; 140 and 150.-— Mortar of Basalt and
Fostle of Hard f.imostone
Diameter ot the Mortar in. ami lO in. UmK'tli of
the pestle .si in. itiameter of its nililiing ami pouiul-
iriR siirfaie ---- in. 'Iroy
MILLINCx CORN 93
passed through this hole. Between this pivot and the hole enough sj)ace
remained for adding grain when necessary. A gri]> was added to tlu;
upper stone to enable it to be turned more easily, and the lower one was
provided with a rim which was to prevent the grain from falling out.
When ground the grain was
run off through leads into a
receiver underneath (Fig. 152).
In order to spread the grains
entering at the central hole
over the whole space between
the two mill-stones, the latter
had small grooves running
out radially, between which
further grooves were inserted
inclined at acute angles to
them. These grooves also in-
crease the friction and in this
way aid the crushing of the
grain. There followed as a
logical development of the
hand-mill those typical Roman
mills which have been handed
down to us through excavations at Pompeii, and are represent ed in pictures
and so forth. The earliest confirmation of the use in Rome of these
mills, which Varro and Pliny report were invented in the town Volsinii
(Bolsena), is given in the second century b.c. The improvement, made
in order to grind more rapidly, was probably
attained by attaching two grips to the upper
mill-stone so that two people coiikl grind simul-
taneously ; they presumably did this by pass-
ing the grips from one to the other in rotation.
But in the earlier stages they still used only their
hands. The whole weight of their bodies could
be applied only when larger mills were used,
which consisted of a conical base of stone on
which the milling- stone was rotated ; the upper
stone was, of course, hollowed out so as to fit
over the cone. As the entrance funnel was
fixed immediately above, the mill- stone assumed
the form of two hells placed with their necks end
to end and so the mill- stone presented the aspect
of an hour-glass. In order to he able to rotate
it two pivots were inserted at the outside of
the junction of the necks radially, that is hori-
zontally, so that rotating levers could be applied in the hollows of the
pivots. In the case of large mills worked by animals these levers were
riveted, or else strengthened by a scaffolding which passed over the
whole entrance funnel as a sort of protective covering. The heavy
I-'lG. 153. — Roman Mill.
On the left is a sectional view ;
on the right is an exterior view,
rt is a brick foundation, h is a surface
or a groove into which the flour
collected, and from which it was
run off ; f is a fixed conically-
shaped grinding-stone of the out-
line shown. This shape leads to a
very narrow passage at e, at which
the grain is most strongly exjui-
pressed ; d is a rotating eoiinter-
grinder in the form of an hour-glass,
and it Iras a funnel-shaped opening
at the top
Saalbiirg Museum
94
FERMENTATION
Fig. 154.— The iron Pivot
(a) and the Di.se (/>) in the
interior of Roman mills
grinding stone was not allowed to rest directly on the base stone as it
could not then be rotated, nor could the grain
have glided between the two. For this reason
the base stone had an iron pivot on which the
grinding-stone rested in such a way that a small
space remained between them, which was par-
ticularly narrow at one point owing to the
slight convexity of the grinding-stone. Con-
nection between the mill- stone and the pivot of
the base stone was made by a disc placed inside
the mill-stone at the narrowest point and hav-
ing five holes (Fig. 154). The pivot passed
through the large central hole (socket), while
the other four holes allowed the grain to pass
through into the mill By lengthening the cen-
tral pivot or, in the case of larger mills, by extend-
ing the beam which supported the framework
of the entrance funnel, coarser flour could be
obtained. As already mentioned, the mills were
turned either by animals, usually asses or mules,
or by slaves and criminals (not by free men) (Figs. 153-156).
Later, the water-mill appeared, which Vitruvius describes (X, 5, 2)
Fig. 155. — Roman Mill
worked by an Ass
Relief in a baker’s shop in I^ompeii
Fig. 156. — ^Baker’s Mills at Pompeii
The parts with the rubbing sm-faces are in the shape of an hour-glass and arc about 6
ing the levers are clearly discernible in the two .rear mills. On the left is the baking
we see the trough for receiving the water
fh. The holes for insert-
In front of it at the side
MILLING CORN
95
somewhat as follows : ‘ The water-mills are driven in the same way (that
is, by means of the under-shot w^heel). These mills are similar in all other
respects except that they have a toothed wheel {a) at the end of the shaft.
Working in this toothed wheel is another {h) at right angles to it and hav-
ing at its upper end a double swallow-tail {e) which is plugged into the
mill- stone. Thus the mill-stones [d) are rotated owing to the horizontal
wdieel being made to turn by the motion transmitted by the teeth of the
vertical w^hecl attached to the shaft (the paddle- w^hcel) . I'he mill-liop})er
(/) placed above the mill-stones feeds the grain into the latter, w’here it
becomes ground up.’ It is remarkable that this ancient Roman mill with
the low-lying under-shot wheel as described by Vitruvius is .still in usc^ at
the present time in some localities. It also
serves as an example of how^ long some
technical constructions last before they are
superseded. Such regions also contain other
relics which indicate that they once be-
longed to the Roman Empire. For in-
stance, the author found an example of this
mill in the furthermost parts of Val di
Gardena, where a dialect derived from
Latin is still spoken. A peculiar feature of
these mills is that the undershot wheel
described by Vitruvius was always used
even when die conditions were such that
much greater efficiency would have been obtained by the use of an over-
shot or middle-shot wheel (cf. Fig. 297, p. 228).
In place of the water-wheel a pulley was often used (see p. 209). In
the sixth century u.c. the floating-mill came into use ; its invention was
due to the circumstance that Vitiges, King of the Goths, had the water-
channels blocked up when he besieged Rome in the year a.d. 536. The
animals which had turned the mills had to be slaughtered on account of the
shortage of w^ater, and the slaves were required for purposes of defence ; so
Belisarius had the mills mounted on ships that were afloat on the Tiber.
Technically the floating- mill had the advantage of working independently
of the level of the water. The undershot wheel thus alw^ays obtained its
supply of -w^ater. Hence its chief disadvantage, which often required
special dams or weirs to be constructed, was eliminated.
BAKING BREAD
In antiquity many different sorts of flour were made, from which
innumerable dishes were prepared. For baking bread, however, wheat en
flour was chiefly used, although numerous other cereals (barley, rye,
millet, oats, etc.) were used, and various ingredients (oil, milk, wine,
poppy, sesame, and so forth) were also added. Herodotus reports that
the Eg}q)tians used spelt (II, 77, 78) in making bread, and also tlic seeds
of the lotus-flower (II, 92) . Ancient Nordic bread from Scandinavia, wffiich
was analysed by Rosendahl in the Stockholm Pharmaceutical Institute,
was made of pine-bark and pea-meal. At first a mash of flour and water
Fio, 157.-- Knman Waler-inill,
according to X’itruvius
FERMENTATION
was probably eaten universally, that is, a sort of polenta ^ (see p. 791) . In
order to Ijc able to preserve this mash, which easily turned bad, generally
becoming sour, baking was probably resorted to ; it was presumably
carried out in hot ashes or perhaps on hot stones. At any rate the charred
crust of some very old samples that have been found indicate that they
wer(‘ baked in some such way. This bread was unleavened and was mostly
baked in the form of discs. The remark by A^ergil, Aen. vii, 109,
that the bread was used as a plate and afterwards eaten is explained by
the flat shape of the unleavened bread. Leaven seems to be an invention
of the Egyptians, by means of which the unleavened and imfermented
flat cake became what is nowadays called ‘ bread ’. The knowledge of
leaven was then passed on from the Egyptians to the Greeks and still later
to the Romans. Among the Greeks,
who honoiix'ed Dionysus as the
inventor of bread-baking, bread
became the staple food of the meal.
Besides being prepared from wheat,
bread was also made from barley
flour. The crust served as a spoon
for the other dishes ; it was not
eaten, being thrown under the table
after use. Both leavened and un-
leavenedbread were eaten, and some
bakers of Athens, such as Thearion,
acquired great fame.
To prepare the bread, flour of
varying degrees of refinement was
Tug. 158.— -Egyptian Granary with a used, wliicli had previously been put
Bakery in front 1. • -n ‘G ,•
through a sieve. The Egyptians
on th?grh!d1uSle^ Blade thcii' flour-sieves with meshes
^EmaaTLfhe ^f different sizes from thin strips of
tom ivoiti papyms-plaiits or
sitting on the roof, superintending oper.itioiis and from TCCdS. RoniaU floUr-sieVCS Wei'C
keeping a list. (Orave-gift.) Berlin Museum, I'.gvptian , r i i i
Dcpartiiipiit made 01 canvas or horse-hair procured
from Gaul. In form they resembled
our modern sieves. The dough was prepared by kneading. Although
Herodotus ( 11 , 78) remarks of the Egyptians that they ‘ knead dough
with their feet and clay with their hands ’, this docs not seem to be
generally tnie, for old Egyptian reliefs show that in Egypt a trough of
fine basket-work was used for kneading and that the hands were used,
just as nowadays. The superfluous water passed out through the meshes
of the basket into a stone jar placed below. Besides these, stone
troughs were also used in Egypt for kneading. The Romans had in
addition to similar stone troughs also wooden ones for use in the house-
hold ; but in the bakeries, as for example in Pompeii, probably large flat
stone troughs were exclusively used. An ancient Egyptian picture in the
mnseura of Biilak shows us that great force was applied to knead the
1 Italian porridge made of barley, chestnut meal, etc. — H. L, B.
BAKING BREAD 97
dough 1 horoiighly . I n the endeavour to economize this labour mechanical
kneaders were developed, about the construction of which we have
Fig. 159.' — A Bakery in Egypt
The author regards the following intexprelatiori as correct : (i) kneading the dough by means of the feet ; (a) water-
carriers bringing water for mixing the dough ; (3) moulds of various fomis ; above, baked loaves, small and large •
(4) the oven, which is heated from below, and on the flat top of which the loaves are baked ; its construction agrees
with that represented in the figure immediately preceding ; (5) ? ; (6) building up an oven for baking a different and
of dough ; (7) moulds for this different dough— the man on the left seems to be cutting out the dough into by
means of these moulds ; (8) the oven, filled with these cakes ; flames are seen shooting out of the top.
information from discoveries at Pompeii. They consist of a kneading-
trough of circular cross-section, carrying a wooden shaft pointing vertically
upwards. It is pro-
vided with wings that ^
reach almost as far as H
the pinner walls of the —
order to scrape off the ill
dough that collects be- |iB
tween the wings, lion- wM
zontal rigid rods pass
through the sides of the 'u
trough into the interior. j., ir-iL lj;’’'
They were fixed in such pprir ."f j '"-■i. ^ _ j
the shaft rotated they
came to lie between the b ; ^
wings, so that the dough jgo — ^ Kneading-maclune
remained hanging on
the rods and then fell down of its own weight. As is shown in old reliefs
the kneading-machine was turned either by human beings or by
T.A.S, — 7 / , ,
98
FERMENTATION
Fig. 164. — Baker in Tanagra (5tli century b.c.)
Beriln, Altes Museum, Antiquarium
animals. To enable the machine to be turned the vertical shaft was
furnished with a horizontal beam (Fig. 160).
The dough was salted
and leavened before
being kneaded. For
leavening, the Romans
used a mixture of sun-
dried bran and ferment-
ing must, which could be
kept for a whole year.
In Pliny’s time, just as
nowadays, leaven was
kept over from one day to
the next (Pliny, XVIII,
104). Pliny (XVIII, 68)
is also acqtiainted with
yeast, which he calls
' condensed foam ’, which
forms when beer fer-
ments (see below). He .
does not mention whether
it was used by the
Romans for making
bread, but merely states
that the Gauls and the
Spaniards used it in place
of leaven for baking bread. Not only was fermentation effected by
means of leaven containing yeast, but other means of making bread rise
were also known.
Whether these actually
included soda, as might
be inferred from a passage
in the Geoponica, II, 33,
seems more than doubtful,
as soda melts' only at
850“ C, ; that is, at a
temperature which could
never be reached in the
interior of dough that
has been placed in a
baking-oven. But even in
the fused state soda does
not give off carbon dioxide.
Several reasons preclude
the possibility of the dough
having risen through escaping water of crystallization, so that we
are urged to look for a different meaning of the word vitqov. The
juice of grapes that had been soaked and then pressed out was also
Figs. 161-163. — Egyptian Loaves
The forms of the loaves are in part identical with those of Fig. 159. They
disclose that some were obtained by kneading and forming, others by
being stamped out of the flat dough. It must be recollected that the
loaves of pyramidal shape {avpaniSa) were prepared for purposes of
worship j this is the origin of the name later ^ven to the Pyramids
(Diels).
^s*L__V,i;&':'i!
thruU in. the bread. In the courtyard there are remains •o^milla. Above is a chimney (a rarity)
to be indicated in a Tanagra figure of a man who is interpreted as a baker
and which dates back to the fifth century b.c. ; later, baking was done
in ovens. Originally the oven had no particular space for baking. The
loaves were laid on then in the same way as they had formerly been placed
on ashes or between hot bricks (see Figs, .158 and 159). A picture of the
lou FERMENTATION
court bakery of Ramses III (about 1200 b.g.) in liis tomb at Thebes shows
us an oven about a yard high which is heated from within ; the bread was
stuck on to the hot sides and was here baked. Later, the oven was arched
and heated from below. Usually the apertures of the oven proper and of
the heating space were situated at right angles to each other. The fire was
lit in the heating space, which was open on both
sides and which lay immediately below the bottom
of the oven. Whether it was maintained during
baking or was removed beforehand is not known.
For thrusting the bread into the oven in the ord-
inary household probably the same board was
used as that on which the dough had been shaped
(this is suggested by Tanagra figures, etc.),
whereas in the bakeries special long boards were
used. In the larger bakeries, as for example in
one excavated at Pompeii, ovens of considerable
dimensions were used. Like many of the smaller
ones they had small water-containers half built into the facade which
perhaps contained the water with which the surface of the bread was
moistened in order to obtain a good crust (see Fig. 156, p, 94). In the
larger ovens (according to Overbeck) the inner arched oven proper a is
surrounded by a rectangular space b, probably enclosed on all sides,
which leads into it (Fig. 166) and which keeps in the hot air. The smoke
due to the charcoal fire and the steam arising from the baking of the
bread passed out through d] eh the ash-pit. The oven is connected by
means of a moderately large opening c with the two adjoining chambers.
Next to the oven are two clay vessels, half built in, which are situated
to the right and left of an orifice leading from a fountain. These vessels
probably served to contain the water used for wetting the half-baked
bread in order to make its crust shine brightly. Other ovens, again,
are provided with special chimneys. During baking the mouth of the
oven was closed by an iron door furnished with handles.
Fig. 166. — Section of an
Oven at Pompeii
BREWING BEER
According to Diodorus (first century b.c., in I, 20, 4 and 34, 10) the
Egyptian god Osiris is supposed to have introduced into Egypt in the year
2017 B.c. a beer made of malted rye, which he first brewed in the town
of Pelusium. Herodotus (II, 77) reports the same, and also Pliny (XIV,
149). Strabo {Geographica, X\TI, i, 14), Athenaeus {Dipnosoph. I, 61)
and Aeschylus were acquainted with this Egyptian beverage {tvOoq ;
Lat. zyihum), which, so Diodorus states, could ^most vie with wine in
pleasantness of taste and power. In Strabo’s time (60 b.c. tih. a.d. 20)
large quantities of Egyptian beer were drunk in Alexandria ; its mode
of preparation is first stated in detail in the Papyrus Anastasi IV.
In view^ of all this it might seem that the origin of beer is to be sought
in Egypt. But according to more recent researches by tirozny, beer
BREWING BEER
lOI
was already being brewed from rye in the year 2H00 js.c. in ancient
Babylon and was a favourite drink among many tribes of this ('inpire.
And there can be no doubt that the art of preparing it dates back much
further still. The Babylonians made their beer not only out of barley
but also out of spelt {Triticum dicoccum), which was probably first planted
and cultivated by the Babylonians themselves.
The production of ancient Babylonian beer proceeded parallel with
the baking of bread. The Babylonians knew how to malt and to make
Fig. 167. —Pictorial representation ol Beer-brewing among the Egyptians
Wall picture in the sacrificial chamb«sr of Achet-hetep-her (Old Kingdom). The most correct interpretation probably
runs as follows : Threshing the corn, winnowing, grinding p>y rubbing). In the middle row from right to left : Roasting
the loaves by a flame held below (?) ; dividing up the bread and perhaps mixing with spelt or malt ; making the
malting apparatus and tlie fermenting oats. Bottom rt — ’-**■ " ‘ '
and malt o” '
jread and ptThaps mixing with spelt or malt ; making the
, „ r, from left to right : Preparing the wort by mixing bread
r six-ll in water (malting) ; filling the boer toto vessels ; scaling the vessels
malt-bread out of rye and spelt. From the malt-bread they also made
a special kind of toasted bread, corresponding somewhat in its method
of preparation with, our toast. This bread was soaked and then allowed
to ferment. This produced a sort of kvass. Robert asserts that the
Egyptians when they settled in their country discovered this kvass
already in existence among the primitive Hamitic population living
there. They made continual endeavours to inarease the alcohohe
content of kvass, which deprived it of its harmless quality, converting it
into beer. A beverage of a similar nature was also drunk in many other
IG 2
FERMENTATION
countries at an early date. “ Archilochus reports that about the year 700
B.c. the Phrygians and the Thracians knew how to prepare a popular
drink of this kind. It is also mentioned by Aeschylus, Sophocles and
Theophrastus, and was made partly of rye and partly of fruit, being
Fig, 168.^ — ^Egyptian Brewery
Spreading out and preparing the com (model by Karl Runk). 0 eutsches Museum, Munich
called ^Qvrog or ^qvxov. This also gradually developed into an intoxi-
cating drink. The same applies to the fermented liquors made from
corn by the Germanic tribes, the Gauls, the Iberians, the Lusitanians, the
Ligurians, the Illyrians, and the Pannonians ; also by other peoples.
Fig. 169. — ^Egyptian Brewery
(Model by Karl Runk.) Deutsclies Museum, Mumch
particularly in the North, whose names have not been quoted by ancient
writers. Among some of these peoples, as for example the Germanic
races, mead, that is, fermented honey, was also in use from early times''
(Robert) , It was first mentioned by the navigator Pytheas of Massilia
about 300 B.c. (Stiibe).
BREWING BEER
103
'Fbe original form of beer was thus that made from bread and still
found nowadays in many parts of Russia as kvass. It was soon noticed
that it was not necessary first to make bread out of flour-pap in order to
prepare beer. Quass (or kvass) also resulted when the flour-pap was
allowed to ferment directly. It did not, indeed, then have the
dark colour of the liquor prepared from the baked substance, nor did
it liave the pleasant taste and fragrant quality produced by baking
on a hot stone. A further retrogressive step occurred in not preparing
flour-pap at all but making the alcoholic liquor directly from roasted
corn.
All these methods of preparing beer were practised early by the
Babylonians, who thus had numerous varieties at their dispo.sal. We
are here using the term beer to mean a drink which, in contrast with
kvass (which contains only a small percentage of alcohol), can produce
violent intoxication. Whether it is prepared from hops or not makes
no difference in this use of the term ; save that among the Teutonic
peoples the term ' beer ’ was used comparatively seldom of a drink
containing no hops. The Babylonians were familiar with the following
species of beer in the above sense.- Firstly, they had a very * cheap '
beer, a sort of black beer prepared from barley to which, in some cases,
spelt was added in amounts up to one-fifth of the substance to be
brewed. Apart from these cases, the wort consisted only of barley
materials, that is, of barley itself, or of baked barley bread or of malted
barley. ' Good black beer ' was produced from one-fifth of husked .spelt
and four-fifths of baked spelt-bread. ‘ Red beer ’ consisted of less than
a quarter of spelt to which bread and ground malted-spelt was added.
It appears to have been a thick beer. Beer of the best sort was made by
using one-third spelt and two-thirds bread and malt for preparing the
wort. The price of beer was higher in proportion to the amount of spelt
used in preparing it. Strong and dear beers were probably also diluted
with water in Babylon.
The fermenration of the wort was induced spontaneously in the case
of all these over-fermented beers, just as is still done with kvass nowa-
days, no artificial yeast being added. Either fermenting agents floated
in from the air, or they were contained in the bread that was added (this
bread was probably made without leaven), in which they were likely to
be present owing to its accessibility to air. Since yeast loses its vitality
above 45° C. (113"* Fahr.), and as this temperature was, on account of
the method of baking used, not attained everywhere on the upper surface
or even probably in the interior of the doughy mass, which was thumb-
thick, the bread used for making beer probably still contained some
living micro-organisms of yeast. Moreover, other species of fermentation
fungi, pai'ticularly the one which produces the sourness of milk, probably
played some part in the process. The fact that this was true beer —
that is, an intoxicating beverage — ^is evident from the thirteenth
maxim of the writer Ani, which was probably written at the time of
the 20th Dynasty (thirteenth and twelfth century b.c.). The maxim
runs:
IU4 FERMENTATION
' Do not get heated in the hou§e m which intoxicating iiquoi* is being drunk. . . .
Your legs will become paralysed, and you will fall ; no one will lend you a hand, your
boon companions will drink and will leave, saying — " Go home, for you have drunk
your fill.” You are wanted for discussing your own private affairs ; and you will
be found lying helplessl}?- on the ground like a small child.’
Like the beer itself, so also the habit of correcting its taste and giving it
a certain bitterness by adding lupines comes from the East, probably
from the regions of the Caucasus. In Western Europe, the use of hops
cannot be traced until after the death of King Pepin (a.d. 768).
As for the beer made by the Germanic races, which they drank besides
mead (this was prepared by allowing honey, diluted with water, to fer-
ment), nothing was known for a long time except the very meagre infor-
mation left to us by Tacitus [Germania, 23) : ‘ Their drink is a liquid made
from barley or w'heat — a brew fermented into a certain resemblance to
wine.’
According to the researches of Delbriick, we may assume that ancient
Germanic beer was wine-like in character, that is to say, sour — not in
the sense of beer that has gone bad — ^but rather on account of the taste
of the ingredients from which it was made and the substances added to
preserve it ; hops were not known at that time.
Further passages in Tacitus, which however relate only to the manner
of life of the Germanic races and to their pleasure in taking warm baths,
lead Delbriick to infer that at that time vessels with a content of 500
litres could be constructed, which served for mixing the ingredients.
In order to heat the contents, hot stones were probably thrown into
the vessel. Surface-coolers were apparently also known. The beer
appears to have been stored in vessels with a wide aperture at the top,
which were hermetically sealed — perhaps by means of resin used as a
cetnent. Ancient Germanic vessels in clay have been found, to which
a lid with a flange fits. In order to fasten the lid more securely by
means of such flanges, holes were bored in them, and pegs of burnt clay
contrived, to fit the holes. The temperature at which these vessels
were kept when stored was, since they were buried in the ground, that
of the earth — about 50® Fahr. We know that this is the correct tem-
perature for beer brewed by surface fermentation.
The question whether the Teutons of ancient Germany and other
northern countries used germinated corn is difficult to answer. But
since it has been proved that very many peoples of primeval times, in
particular Oriental peoples, prepared malt, this does not seem impossible
in the case of the Germans also. But it is irrelevant whether malt was
prepared from germinated corn or not, for the production of sugar is
not necessarily bound up with the germination of com. Natural corn
may also be mashed. Delbriick assumes that the ancient Germanic
beer, for the preparation of which the yeast was spontaneously supplied
by the air, probably corresponded to the weU-known Berlin ‘ Weissbier ’
of our own time.
'rHK PREPARATION OF WINE (VllTCULTURE)
105
THE PREPARATION OF WINE (VITICULTURE)
'J'lierc seem to have been no enemies of alcohol among the peoples
of antiquity ; on the contrary, intoxicating drinks were highly appre-
ciated, and the gods of wine were held in reverence. Wine was prepared
from all substances that allowed themselves to ferment, Harnack lias
made up a list in which he shows that the Jews prepared intoxicating
l)i‘verages from dates, figs, raisins, pomegranates, honey, and of course
also from the grape-vine. Herodotus (II, 93) narrates that the Baby-
lonians also drank palm wine. The god of wine was celebrated in Greece
and Rome by special festivals, in which feelings ran so high that there
have probably never in later times been occasions which could compare
with them in immorality, riotous behaviour, and extreme debauchery.'
This predilection for alcohol, which existed throughout the whole of
antiquity, is not affected by the fact that wine drinking was forbidden
among some peoples, as, for example, the desert tribes of the Rechabites,
and that in some religious decrees we find abstinence prescribed for
priests, women, and others. This preference for wine of course led to
the cultivation of the grape-vine ; the preparation of the drink itself
was developed with very particular care. This in its turn led to the
perfection of the technical apparatus connected with the manufacture
of wine. The number of vineyards was particularly great in Ancient
Egypt, where even at the time of the Old Kingdom (3900-3000 b.c.)
no fewer than six kinds of wine were known. The vines were trained
up on lattice works, or on palisades which carried trellises at the top,
such as is still the custom in Southern countries nowadays, Tjhe
vines were guarded by watchers, who chased away the birds. At
harvest-time the grapes were collected in basketS) and the leaves,
were left for the goats, who ate them directly from the stalks. The
next process consisted in pressing the grapes; this was usually done
by means of the feet. The grapes were turned out into a large container
made of wood from the acacia, provided at the side with holes through
which the juice could escape. Ropes were fixed above this container
to the ceiling of the room, from which men who carried out the pressing
suspended themselves wdth their hands. In some of these wine presses,
these ropes w^ere replaced by wooden beams attached to pillars. The
treading on the grapes was continued so long as juice flowed out, and the
last residue of juice was extracted by placing the gi'ape-skins in a long
sack which was made of woven reeds or canvas, provided with loops at
each end. One loop was fastened to one of the two vertical beams of a
large wooden framework, whereas a stick was thrust through the other,
which could be turned round, so as to squeeze up the bag, and cause th''
last remains of the grape-juice to flow out. Great power wms applied in
turning the stick, as is shown by the strength of the wooden framework,
and also by the fact that on the pictures which have been preseiwed,
we see three men twisting the stick simultaneously (Fig. 170). Th''
wine was then filled into large stone jugs,,, in which it was allowed to
1 A gross exaggeration. — Trans.
io6 FERMENTATION
ferment. But large dishes also appear to have been used. for fermenta-
tion purposes, which were provided with a lip, so that the lees remained
behind when the liquor was poured off. It was then kept in stone or
clay vessels which resembled amphorae in form, but which were often
sharpened below, so that they could be bored into the ground of the wine
cellar, and could thus stand firmly. Besides this, stone and wooden
rings were used ; vessels were placed in such to prevent them falling over.
The vessels were closed by means of stone or clay stoppers of very varied
form. But they all exhibit a wide rim, which fitted over the rim of the
vessel. By smearing the surface of contact of the stoppers and the rim
of the ve.ssel with clay, resin or gypsum, the ancients attempted to
Fig. 170,— -Preparation of Wine in Egypt (mural painting in Thebes)
Above ; Plucking and collecting the grapes in baskets. Below and on the right : Pressing the grapes by treading
with the feot. Above on the right : Malang the wine clear by filteri^ (To the author it seeins more probable, judging
by the size of the vessels, and also from the person on the left who is stirring something in the vessel, that this picture
deals with the preparation and filtering of additional ingredients for the wine. But perhaps it is the boiling up of the
must, which was so much favoured in antiquity, that is here represented.) Below on the left ; Pressing out the remains
of grapes. On the right ; Juice is being filled into pitchers
obtain an air-tight seal. The stamp of the owner was impressed on the
substance used for sealing the vessel. In all of the wine-jars still pre-
served from the ancient Egyptians, we find at the bottom a resinous
or asphalt-like substance, which was perhaps used for preserving the
wine, but perhaps also — as later among the Romans — to obtain a d^lnite
flavour.
Among the Greeks and Romans too the maxim of Pindar, oqlgxov
Hev ‘Sdcng, was colourless theory, which is easily recognized from the fact
that the ode which begins with these words was performed for the first
time in order to celebrate King Hiero of Syracuse at a feast in which wine
flowed in abundance.
THE PREPARATION OF WINE (VITICULTURE) lo;
The greatest care was devoted to the cultivation of the vine, and to
ennobling its qualities. In general, the technical part of preparing wine
corresponded with that practised by the Egyptians. The grapes were
likewise pressed out by means of the foot, but— particularly later — special
presses were used, the construction of which is described in detail in the
Section on the Extraction of Oils (see pages 110-115).
The juice was then passed through a sieve into a large vat or clay
vessel [dolium] in which it fermented. The juice which was obtained
before pressing out the grape-skins distinguished itself by having a higher
jjercentage of sugar than the other acids ; it was called proiopum, and
was allowed to ferment by itself. The juice from the grape-skins yielded
a wine of poorer quality. In order to purify the wine, eggs were added.
It was then filled into clay vessels or into leather skins, which were often
of considerable size. For example, at a feast of Ptolemy Philadelphus,
a skin made of panther-hides and filled with fine old wine was brought to
the table, which had a length of 17 metres (18 yds.) and a width of 7
metres (7^ yds.) . The fermenting vessels also were often of considerable
capacity, amounting at times to over 500 litres. When fermentation was
completed, they often served for stoidng the wine which was to be used
soon afterwards. Wines of better quality, which were to be stored for
a longer time, were later filled into wooden ve.ssels. Before the latter
came into existence, the wine was filled into smaller amphorae, provided
with two handles, the inside of which had been covered with pitch or
wax to make them watertight. They were sealed with a clay cover,
which was fastened on by means of gypsum or pitch. Like the Egyp-
tians, so also the Greeks and Romans mixed all sorts of ingredients into
the wine. In Greece it was particularly the resin of the Greek pine
which was added ; this was supposed to make the wine keep better. The
importance that was attached to this ingredient becomes evident when
we recall that the Bacchic thyrsus always carries a pine-cone. Very
early in Crete gypsum was scattered over the grapes to preserve them.
Aristotle reports that wines were dried in skins, and then taken out in
lumps, which were dissolved in water for drinking purposes. Other
ingredients which were used were the needle-shaped leaves of cypresses,
finely-divided myrtle berries, bitter almonds, honey, shells, gall-nuts,
ashes from the vine, as well as all kinds of resin, of which, some were more
and some were less valued. (Pliny, XIV, 122-128.) For example,
the resin of the sea-pine, which grows in Spain, was regarded with but
little favour by the Romans, as it gave the wine a very bitter taste and
unpleasant smell. In the east Roman provinces, the resin from the
terebinth or turpentine tree was preferred. Pliny (XIV, 123) recommends
Cyprian resin for lining the interiors of the vessels.
Such ingredients appear to have been added chiefly because the need
was felt to do something to make the wine keep better. The wines often
became poisonous owing to the action of baciUi, which produced rapid
decomposition ; and as the reason for this had not yet been discovered,
the ancients did not know how to guard against it. Their method of
working was, indeed, rather unclean. As ColumeUa reports, even the
io8
FERMENTATION
iniivSt had to be boiled up so that it would keep at least until it was sold !
As the boiling was effected in leaden vessels, the must {defrutum) natu-
rally also contained lead. But this must was added to the wines of
inferior quality, which
had already fermented,
in order to make them
more appetizing. Hoff-
mann, who treated wine
in the manner prescribed
by Columella, found from
his researches that 390
milligrams of lead were
taken up in two urns of
mountain wine ; into the
same quantity of valley
wine, 582 milligrams of
lead, and into bad must,
781 milligrams of lead,
were dissolved. Consider-
ing, however, that poison-
ous lead salts such as niinium (red lead) were also added and that the
cement used to close the wine vessels was prepared — according to Cato
— by boiling up syrup from the must {sapa) with iris powder in lead
or bronze vessels, we are not
surprised that the wines of
the ancients often contained
great quantities of poisonous
acetate of lead. In cool
weather, negus [caldum) was
prepared from the wine,
being again boiled in leaden
vessels. Accordinglywhenwe
read of the many symptoms
of poisoning that occurred
after the feasts in antiquity,
and when we learn of
various Emperors being
poisoned, we, in the light of
modern medical science, are
probably correct in regard-
ing these alleged political
assassinations and wholesale
poisonings as nothing more
than ptomaine or lead
poisoning. The detailed
researches of Robert confinn this. Not only did people drink wine con-
taining lead, but they also ate meat which they did not know suffidently
how to preserve from decay.
THE PREPARATION OF WINE (VITICULTURE) 109
For the rest, wine was usually mixed with water, but very often, and
on particular occasions, it was drunk undiluted. Data about the pro-
portions of dilution with water are found for example in Homer, according
to which Maron, the priest of ApoUo, placed before Odysseus a wine which
was mixed with 20 parts of {Odyssey, IX, 209), and from which so
delicious an aroma escaped that it was impossible to refrain from drinking. ^
These data, as Rhousopoulos has shown, are to be accepted with caution.
The alcoholic content of the original natural wine did not probably
exceed 14 per cent, by volume (equals 13 per cent, by weight). After the
mixing, there would have been at most 0'6 per cent, by weight of alcohol ;
that is, the beverage could have neither tasted nor smelled like wine !
We may assume that in antiquity also hardly more than an equal
quantity of water was added to the wine ; in most cases it probably
was less. 2
Vinegar was obtained by using sour wine, or allowing wine to turn
sour for the purpose. There is nothing in the technical method by
which the ancients prepared vinegar that calls for particular remark.
There arose from the mixing-howl an odour sweet past all telling; then
none had a mind to refrain '.
® Wine was often mixed with three or more times its bulk of water, see Athen-
aeus, X, 27 (p. 426b) et seqq. — Trans.
THE PRODUCTION AND USES OF
OILS, FATS, SOAPS AND PERFUMES
T he branch of the mechanical arts we are about to discuss is a
province of applied organic chemistry which is intimately con-
nected with numerous other branches, such as agriculture, the
chemistry of nutrition, methods of preservation and the technical art of
illumination, so that several of its departments might just as well have
been discussed in the chapters devoted to these subjects. But as it is
essentially built up on the use and manufacture of certain special deriva-
tives of the organic acids of oils and fats, we shall consider it here as a
separate subject ; this method of grouping is still in general use in chemical
technology.
THE EXTRACTION OF OILS AND FATS
During the whole of antiquity, the cultivation of the olive-tree pros-
pered exceedingly, for it yielded the oil which was so necessary for prepar-
ing foods, for filling lamps, for oiling or anointing the body, for cleaning
purposes, for producing perfumes and cosmetics of every kind. This oil
was the sort which we, who have such an abundant choice of oils, nowa-
days call olive oil. Even in very early Egyptian manuscripts we find the
mention of the olive tree and the oil obtained from it, both of which are
called ‘ Tat fin the records of the 8th Dynasty (that is, about 2300 b.c.).
The.monuments of the i8th Dynasty (about 1550 b.c.) give representations
of the leaves and fruits of the’ olive-tree. In the tombs of Egyptian kings
of the 2oth Dynasty (1100 b.c.) branches of the olive-tree and olive kernels
have been found, TheophrUvStus {Hist, plant, iv, 2, 8) and Strabo (XVII,
1 , 35) mention that it occurs in Egypt. The Bible also tells of Noah’s dove
which returned with an olive-branch in its beak; and even nowadays
there are trees on the Mount of Olives near Jerusalem, which probably
stood there at the time of Christ. In Greece, the olive-tree, as is estab-
lished beyond doubt, was known in the time of Homer. The number of
writers who mention it in later, times is so great that it is impossible to
enumerate them.
The extraction of oil from the olive-tree was probably carried out in the
same way among all peoples of antiquity. From discoveries on the Island
of Thera it appears to be established that the oil press which originated in
Egypt or in the Orient later became introduced into Greece. Besides olive
oil 'other oils were probably also obtained by the same process, in par-
ticular the pleasant-smelling unguents which were imported at later
times from the Orient both into Greece and into Rome.
no
THE EXTRACTION OF OILS AND FATS
-Vertical Mill or Edge-rollers {Tmpchim)
-for pressing out oil
' Found in Boscorealc
1 Also tfapeius. The term varies-; ■ likewise in tlie plural.
Fig. 173. — Beating down the
Olives from the Trees by
means of Canes
In order to extract the oil, the fruits were picked when they had
attained the right degree of ripeness, or rather of unripeness. At the
present day, particularly in Greece, oil is sometimes extracted from the
olives that have already fallen, and have already partly begun to ferment.
Consequently it is not seldom of bad quality. But better qualities of oil
are also pressed out of fruits that are not
fully ripe. In antiquity the unripe fruits were
also used in order to obtain an oil of particularly
good quality and pleasant taste and smell,
both for nutritious and medicinal purposes.
According to the reports of Dioscorides [De
mat. med. 1, 29) this oil was called ojKpdxLov,
because it was produced from unripe fruits
{d/iq)ui == unripe fruits) . When the fruits could
not be plucked, they were beaten down by
means of canes (Fig. 173) . They were then put
into the oil mills, in which they were first
crushed, in order to release them from the
kernels. (Our description is based on the re-
searches and results of Bliimner.) For this
purpose, a mill was used, which appears to have been built similarly
to that used for grinding corn. Supported on a lower fixed stone was a
second stone which had a hole bored through the centre, to allow it to
rotate on a vertical pivot. Other mills were also in use, which consisted
of a stone tub in which
there were vertically-
placed stones which
could rotate ; and these
represent the arrange-
ment which modern
technical science calls
edge-rollers or vertical
mills. When they first
appeared is doubtful.
They were used by the
Romans and were
known by the name
trapetum.'^ The Greeks
used a similar arrange-
ment for pressing out
wine ; whether they
also used it to press out
oil, is not known. The
trapetum, of which
several specimens and descriptions StiU extant, consists of a trough
(Fig. 174). from the middle of whi(^ a round plinth or pillar projects, the
whole being made of one piece of .stone. The centre of this pillar has a
112 OILS, FATS, SOAPS AND PERFUMES
vertical iron pivot on which a horizontal, axle turns. This axle rests on
the pivot, with a special case made of wood and covered with metal plates.
In order that the case may not shift upwards and jerk off the pivot,
which is very easily possible if the mortar becomes stuck through foreign
matter, the pivot is sometimes pierced by a hole. An iron pin is stuck
througli this hole. On the horizontal axle there now rest two crushing-
stones which are shaped plano-convex, in such a way that their plane side
is turned towards the pillar, whereas the convex side fits into the corres-
pondingly hollowed out inner wall of the mortar. The crushing-stones
were also held fast by means of a case provided with holes which had been
bored through, and which allowed them to be fixed to corresponding holes
in the shaft l: 3 y means of a bolt.
Many of these vertical mills also had special devices in the form of
interior parts which could be attached to the pivot in order to raise or
low^er the stones. The fastening of the horizontal axle and the shape of
the pivot were subject to small alterations, so that we find differences in
these parts of the tyapeta that have been found and described. The
whole machine had to be so arranged that the crushing-stones exerted only
a gentle pressure. The skin and the pulp alone were to be crushed,
while the kernels were to remain whole ; oil was not yet to flow out.
That is why exact dimensions still exist for each individual part, large
as well as small The dimensions of such vertical mills are carefully
recorded by Cato {de agric., 20-22 : 136, 6-7) ; and he describes the
adjustment of the crushing-stones down to the smallest detail Besides
the trapetum, there were also a number of other devices for crushing the
olives, of which, however, we have no information.
The substance which came out of the mill, and consisted of crushed
olives, was sorted out, in order to remove the kernels. This was followed
by the pressing out of the kernel-less fruits. Very different devices were
employed for this purpose. Originally they were probably placed in a
kind of basket, and pressed out by placing stones on the basket. The oil
ran out between the wickerwork of the basket, and was collected in a
vessel placed below.
Later, the method was
made more perfect. The
substance — or the wicker-
work containing it-— -was
placed between wooden
boards, and several such
layers were placed on a
framework.
A long lever beam was
then fixed above, which
was weighted in front with
large stones, fastened by
means of cords. By
climbing up on the lever
beams and jerking with
Fig. 175. — Oil Press with its Press-beam
On Uia right is a stool on which the oil fnilts are afraotfed in layers with
intervening- layers of wooden boards or woodcsn discs {?), wbici are per-
lorated, or perhaps provided with cbaiuaels. Above thara fe the press-
beam, which is weighted at its free end by means of two stones, and
on whidr a man is jerking his weight, while a seoc^ maa is striving
to increase the power of the lever by mearB of the weight of his Irody.
The oil runs out over the outer sides of the layeti into the stool, which
is furnished with a rim or a concavity, and thence by means of a tap
into a collectiug vessel. Picture on a G-r^
THE EXTRACTION OF OILS AND FA'FS 113
the weight of the l)ody, the effect was intensified. The oil ran out
into the lower frame, and from here probably along grooves, into a
larger gutter, the opening of which lay
II4 OILS, FATS, SOAPS AND PERFUMES
pulled down by j erking with the weight of the body. Later still, the screw
was introduced. There arose a new t5rpe of oil press, in which the board
resting on the olives was pressed against its base by means of a screw,
lliis press probably corresponded in general to those represented in Fig,
240 except that it appears also to have been used with one screw alone.
At any rate. Heron of Alexandria describes an olive press of this kind in his
Mechanics {III, 20), and this tallies with one described by Pliny (XVIII,
Fig, 178. — ^Wedge-press (for pressing out Oil)
Mural painting in Herculaneuiu
317). From Pliny’s writings it appears that cases weighted with stones
were also used for pressing out oil. In Herculaneum, as well as in the
house of the Vettii at Pompeii, wall pictures exhibit Cupids striking
blows against wedges, between which the substance to be pressed out lies.
A strong framework of beams serves as a buttress and holds together the
alternating layers of wedges and oil-mass (Figs. 177, 178). In many oil-
Fig. 179, — Oil-press Works in Stabiae (horizontal section)
G, vertical mill {trapeium). ghi, depressions for receiving the posts for the press apparatus. H, large receptacles
shut off from the middle of the chamber by means of walls («). file pressed-out oil was collected in these receptacles.
The lowest point of the inclined floor is at B, where the oil flows out, and is conducted by leaden conduits into the
receptacles c, from which it can be drawn, /./. are ledges on which probably the pitchers were placed into which the
oil was filled from c ; and their inclined upper surface allowed the oil that flowed over to return to E
press works, the floor was sloped so that the oil flowing on to it collected
in receptacles from which it could be drawn as required (Fig. 179). In a
similar way, oil was extracted from nuts — from almonds— -from sesame,
various kinds of palm, mastic oil, and so forth. ^
In order to preserve the oils, they were then mixed partly with salt,
1 See also Herodotus (I, 94), in which a process for extracting oil by roasting
and boiling out the fruit is mentioned.
THE EXTRACTION OF OILS AND FATS
1X5
aiu.1 partly and resin, which caused them to retain their smell.
'I'lie extraction of purely ethereal oils was impossible, as the modern
process of distillation was not then known. All sorts of other substances
were, also mixed with the oils, such as vinegar, fennel, must and honey.
Tlie ]>ioma,ns obtained swgms, probably a rarely saponifiable ethereal oil
from blossoms, as well as the corpus, which is obtained from fruits, and is
always saponifiable. It was used for making ointments by adding sucus,
and it was made to smell pleasantly by adding oil extracted from buds.
For preparing ointments, there were used, besides oil from fruits, also
animal fats — in particular fat from wool (called oimmog or otavnov, also
oiavm], by the Greeks, and oesypus or oesypum by the Romans). This fat
obtained from wool, after it had played an important part in antiquity,
both as a medicine and as a cosmetic, sank into complete oblivion for
several centuries until recently when it was introduced into medicine again
by Liebreich, and is generally known under the name ‘ Lanoline Its
preparation is known to us from reports by Dioscorides and Pliny ; the
Ix'st method of preparing it — according to Pliny — was as follows : The
freshly shorn wool was placed into a bronze vessel filled with water, and
the mass was heated up by means of a gentle fire. It was then cooled,
and the fat swimming on top was collected in an earthenware vessel.
This was repeated once or twice. The fat that had been scooped off was
then thoroughly washed with water, strained through a piece of cloth, and
exposed to the sun until it was white and transparent. This substance,
which was most valued when it was obtained from the wool of Attic sheep,
was held to be a remedy for various ills. Besides fat from wool, other
animal-fats — in particular goose-fat, butter, and so forth™ -were used for
all sorts of purposes, particularly as cosmetics. The reason for this was
probably because fat obtained from wool, which, according to Ovid
(dfs ammidi, III, 213, and Remedia amoris, 354), was used to keep the skin
tender and lustrous, very quickly became evil-smelling, by reason of its
being insufficiently purified of albuminous material, which easily decom-
poses. According to Ovid, it smelt like ‘ the table of Phineus soiled by
the harpies h
THE USES OF OILS
The oils and the fats were at first used in the raw state in which they
were obtained by the processes of mechanical extraction just described.
Chemical separation hy means of saponification was not known. In
cases where chemical action perhaps really occurred, for example, in
washing materials of raw wool by means of stale urine, by which tfie
wool fat must have become decomposed owing to the action of ammonia,
the ancients were not aware of it. When the resultant product, soap,
became known, it was at first used for purposes other than cleansing.
The method of cleaning woven and. spun materials is reported in the
sections which deal with these subjects. Personal cleanliness was
achieved by various means : the Jews used potash and soda (Pinner) ;
the Greeks used bran, sand, ashes, and pumice stone ; the other peoples
ii6 OILS, FATS, SOAPS AND PERFUMES
used similar materials, and also all sorts of ointments, especially oils,
which they rubbed into the whole body, scraping off the excess (Fig. i8o).
Particular importance attaches to the baths as a means of cleansing ;
their preparation is described very early,- — ^indeed, by Homer (Bath of
Odysseus in the home of the enchantress Circe—Odyssey, X, 358 seg.) :
‘ And a foiu-th (handmaiden) bare water and kindled a great fire beneath the
mighty cauldron. So the water waxed warm ; but when it boiled in the bright
brazen vessel, she set me in a bath and bathed me with water from out a great
cauldron, pouring it over head and shoulders, when she had mixed it to a pleasant
warmth, till from my limbs she took away the consuming weariness. Now after
she had bathed me and anointed me well with olive oil, and cast about me a fair
mantle and a doublet. . . .’1
According to Pliny (XXVIII, 191), soap itself is an invention of the
Fig. 180, — ' The Apoxyomenos.’ The.' scraper’, an athlete who is cleansing himself by
rubbing oil into liis skin and afterwards scraping it off with a strigil
Marble copy taken from a bronze statue of Lysippus. Vatican Museum, Rome
Gauls, who likewise, however, used it, not for purposes of cleaning, but
as a means of embellishing the hair. It was produced from fats, particu-
larly from that of goats, and from ashes (potash), chiefly from the ashes
of the beech ; and here a saponification of the fat actually occurs.
Pliny mentions two kinds of soap— a hard and a soft variety. Reddening
the hair, as mentioned by Pliny, could hardly have been effected by the
use of soap alone (see page 12 1).
As elsewhere, so in Rome, soap was probably at first used as a means
of cultivating the hair, and for medical purposes. Galen (a.d. 131-201)
is the first to mention (XII, 170, 180) that soap served for washing. 2
He expresses preference for German soap, and puts Gallic soap second.
It exerts a softening effect, so he reports, and is used to remove dirt from
the human body and clothes. The distinction between hard and soft
soap which Galen makes, and which Pliny (loc, cit.) already mentions, is
due to the fact that German soap, being a potash soap produced from the
^ From the prose translation by Butcher and Lang. Macmillan & Co., London.
2 Wrong ; it is mentioned by Tlieokritos, Idyll. XV, 30, some 450 years earlier, —
Trms,
THE USES OF OILS 117
asli of lln! bcccli, proved softer than Gallic soap, which, being made from
the ash of sea- plants containing sodium salts, was a sodium soap, and con-
sequently hard. The doctor Serenus Sammonicus, who lived in the third
century a.d., and W'as Physician-in-Ordinary to the Empercjr Septimius
Severus, mentions soap as a means of cleansing, but only in a poem which
speaks of the treatment of various illnesses ; so that doubts which have
been raised in various quarters seem to be justified.
The varieties of products, besides soap, which were made from oils and
fats, are innumerable. Even the ancient Egyptians prepared ointments
having very different properties by mixing oils and fats with perfumes
of every kind, which probably consisted of plant oils : these oils and fats
had melting-points above ordinary temperatures, that is, they were
solids. Perfumes obtained from the following vegetable .substances were
universally popular: tree oil, rose oil, almond oil, sweet calamus, cin-
namon, cassia, ladanum, incense, spikenard, se.same, laurel, marjoram, lily,
isis, pomegranate, cypre.ss, amaravain, malabathrum, honey, oenanthe,
resin from coniferous trees, and so forth. (Galen is our chief authority.)
Besides being used in the form of ointments, perfumes were also used
in the form of oils and powders. A much-favoured perfume in Rome was
stmineum, which consi.sted of lilies, oil from beans, honey, cinnamon,
and saffron (Pliny). In ancient Aquileia, a perfume was discoverecl
during the work of excavation, the analysis of which by Majonica sliowed
that it was a re.sin obtained from the Cretan cistus {Cisius creiinus).
The use of cosmetics was very popular. Making up the face was
practised by all ancient peoples, and the following words, in which the
satirical Martial mocks at the Roman woman, probably applied to most
of the women of antiquity.
‘ Though you arc at home, Galla, and deck yourself in the midst of the .Suhura
[a not over-re.spectable district of Rome], while your hair is abroad ; though you
take out your teeth at night as you take off your silk frock, and sleep tucked
away in a hundred vanity-boxes ; though you have not your own face for a bed-
fellow ; still you wink at men under an eyelid which you took out of a drawer
that same morning.’ {Epigr. ix, 37.)
It has been proved that cosmetics were actually manufactured by
the Eg5q)tians 4,400 years ago. At that time also, sticks of paint were
made, which were probably of a fatty composition, although the existence
of this fat can no longer be proved, as it has decomposed in the course
of these thousands of years. This greasy cosmetic was poured into the
hollow .stem of graminaceous plants, one jEinger thick, which were cut off
just below a notch, so that this notch served to close up one end. The
fat tliat was used was probably obtained from wool, but perhaps it also
consisted of olive oil. We may infer this from the fact that the sticks
of paint were carefully wrapped up in the fibres of plants and grasses.
Besides this, the paint was kept in pots of fired clay, in vessels of alabaster
and ivory. Cosmetics of a pasty consistency were packed up in leaves ;
at any rate, some finds exhibit the impress of leaves from dicotyledons.
Ancient Egyptian cosmetics have been frequently analysed. For
example, A. von Baeyer has investigated several black cosmetics derived
ii8 OILS, FATS, SOAPS AND PERFUMES
from the mummy tombs at Achim, which had served to colour the eyelids
and the eyebrows ; and he has found that they consist of a mixture of
lead sulphide and charcoal, and had without doubt been produced by
combusting lead sulphate with charcoal. He believes that the Egyptians,
in order to prepare the necessary lead sulphate, transformed lead (which
was already known to them) by
heating it in air to obtain galena
(lead oxide), dissolving the latter
in vinegar, and precipitating lead
sulphate by the addition of alum.
By combusting the lead sulphate
with charcoal, one obtains —
as Baeyer has proved by his
own experiments — a product
which exhibits the same proper-
ties as the cosmetics that were
under investigation. A green
cosmetic which was also studied
by Baeyer, and which belongs to
the British Museum, consisted of
verdigris and some resin. Salkow-
sky, in his analysis of such cos-
metics, also found lead sulphide present in most cases ; and in one par-
ticular sample, he found mineral manganese. Ryssel believes that the
mineral black-lead, which is likewise often found present in the black
cosmetics but does not occur in Egypt itself, comes from Ispahan. In
none of the samples in-
vestigated was antimony
ever found, although
Berthelot’s researches
make it certain that the
Egyptians were ac-
quainted with it.
Later, the well-known
Egyptologist, Ebers, as
well as A. Wiedemann,
presented to the Univer-
sity Laboratory of Erlan-
gen a series of cosmetics
which had been exca-
vated by Flinders Petrie
from the tombs near Illa-
hun, Kahun and Gurob.
The cosmetics themselves were either fine powders of diverse colours,
which under the microscope are shown to be either black crystals of the
regular system, particles of quartz, remains of plants, fragments of green
and red crystal, or they were in the form of cylindrical sticks as thick as a
finger, which in consequence of having dried out for thousands of years,
Fig. 182. — A Spoon for Cosmetics or Ointments, made
of green glazed stone. On the handle is depicted a
woman swimming between lotus flowers. The length is
3 in.
Berlin Museum, Egyptian. Department
Fig. 1 81. — Egyptian Containers of Cosmetics
On the left is a s.patula for taking out the cosmetic.
THE USES OF OILS
119
exliibit longitudinal cracks reaching almost to the middle. The cements
used to make these cylindrical sticks could not be determiiu'd, as of course
the fats had become decomposed in the course of time, and the presence
of resin could not be detected. The analysis of the mineral constituents
showed that black lead was mostly used for the black cosmetics, and in
rarer cases, antimonite. As in addition lead sulphate was nearly always
j)resent, often in considerable quantity, there is reason for assuming that
the black lead was either subjected to slight heating, or became oxidized
under the action of some moist substance used as a cement. As neither
of the ores mentioned occurred naturally in Egypt, they were probably
derived from the great ore deposits in India, by way of Arabia. Pyroliisite
(mineral manganese) was also used, but seldom alone ; in the same way,
Fig, 183. — Containers (Egyptian) for Perfumers, Cosmetics, Pencils, etc.
copper oxide prepared from the carbonate by heating, and also protoxide
of iron, occurred relatively seldom.
Clays containing a high percentage of iron were used for preparing
brown cosmetics. The green cosmetics were either glass pastes, or else
naturally occurring silicates, which were finely powdered and mixed wth
basic copper carbonate. These green cosmetics, besides serving as
preventives against eye diseases, perhaps also, as suggested by Hille,
served to colour the white of the eye ; but probably they were only used
to paint the lid of the eye. The orange-red cosmetic used to colour the
finger-nail was prepared from the plant henna {Lythracee Lawsonia Inermis
L.). The coarse powder which is obtained from its leaves, stalks and
buds, has been found in numerous ancient Egyptian tombs. Since the
juice a.ssumes an orange-red colour only when alkali has been added, it is
probable that soda or burnt lime was used to produce this colour.
In contrast with the versatility of the Egyptians, the Jews were
acquainted with only one cosmetic, namely, grey mineral antimony,
120 OILS, FATS, SOA£>S AND PERFUMES
which served to increase the brilliance and fire of the eyes. This cosmetic
was called ‘ Puch and reference is made to it in Jeremiah iv. 30 —
. And though thou markest thine eyes with painting/^ It is to be
assumed that this grey mineral antimony (antimony sulphide, SbaSg) was
brought from Arabia in caravans (Pinner).
The Greeks sought to beautify their bodies more by gymnastics than
by means of cosmetics. In pre-classical times, however, they painted
their whole bodies. ^ Later, the red extracts from plants mentioned on
page 189 (organic dyes) served as a red cosmetic; still later, cinnabar
(native red sulphide of mercury, HgS) was used. The white cosmetic
Fig. 184. — Egyptian Toilet Case made of Reeds (about 2000 b.c.)
Height, 13 in.; width, 8 in.; length, ii in. Berlin Museum, Egyptian Department
was made of white lead. In trade it occurred in the form of round
tablets, as is shown by discoveries from Athenian tombs dating back to
the third century b.c. To remove hairs, orpiment (AsgSs) was used
(Rhousopoidos) .
The ai:t of using cosmetics, as weU as the manufacture of cosmetics,
reached its zenith among the Romans. A white cosmetic was provided
by the finely divided excrement of crocodiles, earth of Chios, chalk, and,
above all, white lead. The red colours were made of niddle (red chalk),
1 Painting = Puch in the German version of the Bible.
** I do not know on what evidence this esxtraordinary statement is based.*—
Trans.
I2I
THE USES OF OILS
cinnabar, ininiuni (red lead) and archil (or orchil). We read in Martial :
‘ Lycoris, who is bkcker than the colour of the mulberry when it falls
from the tree, thinks herself beautiful when she covers her face with
white lead.’ {Epigr. i, 72, 5.)
Dioscorides and Pliny mention that all lead preparations (and hence
also cosmetics) are poisonous ; the recognition of this fact, however, seems
to have been no obstacle to their use. The black cosmetic used for
accentuating the eyebrows was made either of soot, lead, or powdered
antimony sulphide (SbgSa). This precious co.smetic, which was also used
l)y the ancient Egyptians, was even at that distant period often adul-
terated with lead sulphide (Robert). Particularly designing ladies used
more expensive cosmetics, which were prepared from the ash of date
kernels, spikenard or burnt rose-leaves. The men of Rome also used
paint, but only on special occasions. The face of the victor who marched
into the capital was smeared with red lead (minium). For the rest, the
adornment of the men was limited mostly to wearing beauty patches
{spknia) . The hair was coloured black or blonde ; black by the means
just mentioned, or else by leeches which had undergone decomposition
for a fair length of time in an earthenware pot containing wine and
vinegar. A blonde or red effect was obtained by means of the soap
imported from Germany, which was sold in the form of round cakes.
Martial calls these cakes ‘ Mattiac balls ' after the Germanic settlement
Mattium, where they were manufactured. {Epigr. xiv, 27.) This is
nowadays believed to be the site of the present-day village Metze or
Maden, near Gudensberg.
Ovid complains that this colouring matter was injurious to the hair.
Probably an excess of alkali in it acted destructively. The fact that the
Romans also knew how to make more harmless colouring pomades is
proved by the analysis of a sample excavated near Ticino, which was
found unimpaired in the vessel in which it was stored. According to
Reutter, it consisted of a mixture of beeswax, fat, resin from the storax
tree, and oil of turpentine. The presence of the potassium salt of tartaric
acid leads us to conclude that it was moistened with wine. The yellow
colour was produced by adding henna, this pomade being obviously
used for colouring the hair blonde. In the times of greatest luxury, the
hair was coloured with gold-dust.
REFRIGERATING AND PRESERVING
T he most important methods nowadays used for preserving were
also practised by the ancients ; that is, cold storage, salting,
drying, and excluding the air. Just as now, cold served not
only for preserving, but also for producing an artificial lowering of
temperature. In this way, apart from preserving, processes of pro-
ducing cold also developed, which were based partly on methods of
conduction, partly on bringing about vaporization, as well as by
lowering the temperature by dissolving substances.
The art of refrigeration is very old indeed. In the Shih king, the
ancient Chinese collection of lyrics, we find an older section, earlier than
the first millennium b.c., which prescribes religious ceremonies for filling
and emptying ice-cellars. Unfortunately, nothing is known about the
construction of these ice-cellars, nor in particular whether non-conducting
layers were used as a protection against heat. The Jews, moreover, used
snow for cooling their beverages. In the book of Proverbs, xxv, 13, we
read—-' As the cold of snow in the time of harvest, so is a faithful messen-
ger to them who sent him ; for he refresheth the soul of his masters.’
The Greeks and the Romans, particularly the latter, constructed their
snow-cellars in accordance with important technical rules. They were
large pits which were covered with grass, chaff, or (according to Seneca)
with earth, manure, or branches of trees ; so the protection against heat
was effected by the correct choice of non-conducting substances. More-
over, the snow was tightly pressed together before being introduced into
the pits. As snow becomes ice under pressure, it is not improbable that
artificial ice was at that time made by this process. The snow had often
to be fetched from far away ; perhaps pressure was used to economize
space and so to facilitate transport. No further details are known to us.
Plutarch enters into a detailed discussion about the protection fur-
nished by chaff against the melting of the snow ; and from his reflections
it is easily inferred that the snow was also wrapped in thick cloths in
order to keep it longer. Moreover, the method of preserving just
described was used, according to Athenaeus, by Alexander the Great.
Snow was added directly to beverages. The water resulting from it
when it melted was used for the same purpose, after it had been run
through cloths or sieves in order to purify it. As mentioned by Pliny
(XXXI, 21), the drinking of strongly cooled beverages produced illnesses
of very different kinds. When this circumstance became known, the
beverages were cooled from without, by placing the vessels in snow — ■
an invention which is attributed to the Emperor Nero (Pliny, XXXI, 23) ;
122
METHODS OF PRESERVIN(i
123
so that we have to regard Nero as the discoverer of the champagne-
cooler ! Galen reports that Nero had also made the observation that
water which had been previously heated cooled more rapidly than
ordinary water. This observation, which, by the way, had already been
mentioned by Aristotle {Meteorologica, 1, 12), is correct. Ordinary water
contains air and carbon dioxide, which retard cooling. Boiling the water
drives off both of these gases.
For the rest, according to Galen, more extensive methods were used
in Egypt to produce an artificial cooling of water. Water which had
been previously warmed was placed into shallow earthenware dishes,
which w^ere allowed to stand on roofs protected from the wdnd during
the night. The next morning they were placed into moist hollows dug
out of the ground, and covered with moist leaves. So that in this case
ample use is made of the cold produced by vaporization, which, as in the
gullah (see the section ‘ Ceramic Art ’), w'as used from the earliest times
very appropriately for producing cool drink. According to the reports
of Athenaeus, these earthenware dishes were moistened on the out-
side the whole night long by slaves, in order to increase the amount
of vaporization. As to the amount of cooling effected, opinions differ
widely ; also as to whether the sun, in consequence of more rapid
vaporization, or the .shade, in consequence of vaporization in conjunction
with the lower temperature, was more effective. Dollinger calculates
that a vessel of 5 litres content, of which one-tenth is vaporized at a tem-
perature of 33° C., incurs a loss of 58*5 calories of heat, which would
correspond to a cooling of 12® C. (22° Fahr.) ; this would however never
be actually reached, as some of the heat is furnished not by the water,
but by the surrounding air, and since heat enters through the opening of
the vessel. Von Luschan, on the other hand, was able to cool water or tea
at 40° C, by 25“ C. Experiments designed to determine the maximum
possible amount of cooling, and to check theoretical calculations, were
to have been carried out by the author himself in Egypt. 'I'hese were
intended for the winter of 1914-15, but had to be cancelled owing to the
War, No record h^is been passed down to indicate that ice was pro-
duced in this w'ay ; nevertheless the ancient Indians were familiar in
very far- distant times with a process for making ice artificially. It
depended on the simultaneous action of vaporization and radiation.
Shallow ve.ssels filled with water and made of porous clay were placed
on rice-straw in small holes in the ground, and left overnight. The
water then freezes on account of the great amount of radiation and simul-
taneous vaporization ; the next morning the vessels are covered with
ice. This method of producing ice was probably prevalent among
many peoples. An accident has revealed to us that it w£ls also known
to the Esthonians about a.d. 800. The cooling of air by means of
fountains, jets d’eau, and by pouring water on marble tiles, which was
very popular in antiquity, likewise represents a method of making use
of the loss of heat due to vaporization. To what extent lo.ss of heat
by solution was used is not known. It seems fairly certain that it
was applied. On the one hand, this emerges from the Indian, wau'k
124 REFRIGERATING AND PRESERVING
‘ Paiichatantra which dates from the fourth century A. D. and states:
' Water is cool when it contains salt.’ Moreover, when certain salts
(in particular saltpetre), which, were well known to the ancients and
much used by them, are dissolved in water, considerable cooling occurs ;
and it is to be assumed that this did not remain unnoticed. The con-
duction of heat was also used for producing artificial cooling — although
in a very peculiar manner. Persons placed cold-blooded animals about
themselves, and used cold stones, in order to keep themselves cool. An
account of the Egyptian women of the fifth century b.c, tells us that
they used these means and also the method involving vaporization in
order to make their existence more pleasant ; ‘ they had the couch in
their litters covered with a thick layer of green leaves and flowers, on
which they stretched themselves out, covered with only a thin linen
tunic. The curtains were drawn, and then wet with cold water. In
addition, they rolled about their necks and arms two or three live adders,
and in each hand they took a quartz .sphere, a mineral whose temper-
ature remains constantly below that of the surrounding air.’
METHODS OF PRESERVING
The fact tha.t cold was used in antiquity for purposes of preserving is
clear from various data — above aU, from ancient Roman cookery books,
in which it is advised to cover certain dishes, especially brawns, with
snow. As these are particularly prone to decay, and as the snow can
hardly have been regarded as a delicacy, we can interpret this only as a
method of preserving. Other methods of pre.serving food-stuffs con-
sisted in drying them in the air, in smoking them, in salting them, and in
excluding the air. The latter was performed chiefly by placing the food-
stuffs in oil (Columella, De u rustica, V, 8). Besides this, however, the
food was also placed in vinegar, in salt, and in salt water {loc, cit.). Salt-
ing seems to have been used universally. Herodotus (IV, 53) reports of
the river Borysthenes which flows in the land of the Scythians :
' At its mouth there is an enormous natural salt-pan, and it yields
great sea-beasts without bones for salting purposes, which they call
aniakaioi,^ and many other wonderful things.’
.Preserved fish from ancient Egyptian times have remained unimpaired
up to the present day. The method of preserving was certainly a little
complicated. In the case of the ancient Egyptians, the particular fish
used was one that resembled a perch and was regarded as sacred, the
Lates Niloiicus. Great quantities of this fish were found in a sandy desert
stretching east of the town Esna ; they have also been found in exca-
vated tombs. The fish were wrapped round with linen strips, and were
then placed into water of the Egyptian lakes, which contain much
soda, and were left in contact with the water for some time. (The
researches of French savants prove that sodium was present in some
foiin ; whether this sodium arises from the use of soda or of ordinary salt
seems doubtful in the light of the more recent investigations into the
preparation of mummies-— which we shall presently discuss.) The fish
^ A sort of sturgeon. — Trans,
MUMMIES 125
were then packed into a mixture of saiid and clay, and once again placed
in brine. In some cases they still look nowadays as if they had just come
out of the water. The skin is shiny and has colour, and in the eyes one
can still clearly discern the iris. This method of preserving is a process
in which pickling, excluding the air (clay), as well as drying, aided by the
exceptional dryness of the Egyptian climate, probably acted in concert
to produce this result.
MUMMIES
The greatest perfection in the art of preserving is probably exemplified
in ancient Egyptian mummies. They have formed the object of many
investigations, and yet, up to the present, it has not been possible to
clear up every detail of their preparation. Nevertheless, more recent
researches and analyses have at least proved that the account given by
Herodotus (II, 86), as well as that given by Diodorus, is in general true.
As the oldest of all known mummies probably date back to about 3,000
B.C., it might seem at first sight as if the process practised by the ancient
Egyptians was appropriate for allowing complete corpses to be pre-
served for thousands of years. As W. A. Schmidt rightly points out from
his researches, this view is erroneous. We shall revert to the results of
these investigations below, and shall remark here only that in the mum-
mies, blood or hasmoglobin and its derivatives have never been proved
to be present, What has been preserved is only the skeleton and the
skin, as well as the nails, hairs, sinews and bones. Muscular tissue has
shrunken up to a small mass, and represents only a fibrous material
resembling tobacco. Only in the more recent mummies, the so-called
‘ Coptic ’ mummies of the fifth century a.d., has the muscular tissue,
according to Schmidt, been sufficiently preserved to justify one's speaking
of preserving the flesh.
Mummies were made (so Herodotus and Diodorus state) by the follow-
ing three methods, any one of which was used, according to the wealth of
the person to be embalmed. The first process cost one talent (about
£225) ; the second, 20 minae (about £75) ; the third was very cheap.
In the first method, the brain was partly removed through the nostrils
by means of a bent piece of iron, and partly by pouring in substances of
which we are ignorant. A sharp Ethiopian stone was then used to make
an incision in the side, through which the entrails were removed. They
were then cleaned with palm-wine and sprinkled with pulverized aro-
matics. The abdomen was filled with finely-divided myrrh, with cassia,
and with any other perfumery, except incense, and then sewn up again.
Hie coipse was next placed for 70 days in natrum (see page 127). At the
end of this time the body was washed, wrapped round with fine linen
from Byssus, and painted with gum. The corpse was then placed in a
wooden box, which followed the shape of the mummy. This box was
placed upright against a wall.
The second method of making mummies was as follows ; Syringes
were filled with oil fromcedaiw^ood.^ The body was not opened, and the
^Cedar-tree pitch
Figs. 1S5 and 186. — Egyptian Instruments for making Mummies
The same general principles were applied to embalming sacred ani-
mals. These processes were, however, often modified slightly. Thus,
many types of resin, asphalt, pitch, aromatic waters, expensive oils,
flowers, and so forth, were often used. According to researches carried
MUMMIES 127
(,)ut by Elliott Smitli on the mummies of forty-four priests and priestesses
of the 2ist Dynasty (eleventh century b.c.), a process was used, by which
the natural form of the body was retained. In particular, the shrinking
of the trunk and the twisting of the body was avoided. For this purpose,
stuffing was adopted. The flesh was replaced by bringing under the skin
more permanent substances, such as loam, sand or sawdust — aromatic
substances often being mixed with them. Later, this process of stuffing
was again given up, and an attempt was made to retain the external form
by wrapping bandages round the limbs and the body. Still later, twist-
ing was prevented by using pitch and bandages. The incision in the
roof of the nasal cavity, which is mentioned by Herodotus, and through
which the brain was removed, has been dis-
covered by Smith in all mummies of the 17th
and later Dynasties. The entrails, which were kept
in the four ' Canopic vases ’ while the body was in
solution, were placed in four packets in the interior
of the body, after removal from solution.
Of the numerous data derived from the
analysis of mummies and their constituent parts,
we mention only the following details, as being
the most important, since they give us note-
worthy information about the process of making
mummies and the substances used in doing so.
The ashes of three mummies, analysed by A. Lucas,
contain 10 to 13 *58 per cent, of substances insolu-
ble in water, particularly calcium carbonate, also
iron oxide, aluminium acetate, and sand. It has
not been possible to determine whether the calcium
carbonate is a transformed product of the embalm-
ing substances, or an accidental impurity intro-
duced from the earth ; nor has it been established
whether the aluminium was used as a silicate or
as a soluble salt. These substances seem to be
the remains of the materials used for stuffing.
Haas observed the high percentage of sodium in
the ash of a mummy ; this is due to the corpse
having been laid in the ‘ natrum ’ mentioned by Herodotus. This
' natrum ' or ‘ nitrum ' has hitherto been regarded as a solution of
saltpetre or soda, in particular of that form of soda (sodium carbonate)
which occurs in the salt lakes of Egypt, and is now called ‘ trona ' ; it
corresponds chemically with the formula Na2C03.3H20. W. A. Schmidt
failed to discover in the texture of mummies the slightest trace of salt-
petre or sodium carbonate ; on the other hand, there have always been
fotmd, in particular in ‘ Coptic ' mummies, considerable quantities of
common salt. According to Schmidt, the ' nitrum ’ bath therefore con-
sisted certainly of common salt. The making of the mummies was thus
effected by an actual pickling of the corpses. Trona was also much used
in the solid fonn as a material to stuff the corpses. In no mummy was
Fig. 187. — Canopic
vase, for entrails
This served to receive the en-
trails of the corpses of mum-
mies. The lid has the shape of
a human head. The lower part
is covere'd with canvas and
painted Wads. Height 13 in.
Thebes. Berlin Museum,
Egyptian Department
128
REFRIGERATING AND PRESERVING
it possible to discover other chemical preserving substances, such as
compounds of mercury, arsenic, lead, zinc, or antimony. The washing
out of the bodies by means of palm wine had no preserv-
ing action, as it contains only a very small percentage of
alcohol. Excluding the air by means of resin, asphalt
and so forth plays a minor part, according to Schmidt,
in comparison with the pickling and drying. The wrap-
ping round with bandages, which were painted with gum
and resins , is, however, of importance . The fact that dry-
ing without pickling can act as a preservative in the dry
air of Egypt is proved by prehistoric mummies, perhaps
6,000 years old, which have .lain buried in the sand;
and no salting treatment could be traced in them. They
were well dried before being buried. Probably the rob-
bing of the corpses buried with ornaments and jewels,
which often occurred, and also the improvement of tools
which made it possible to construct wooden coffins, led
to the old method of drying by means of air being discarded,
and to the introduction of pickhng and drying for making
mummies.
trails (Canopic The ‘ trona ' which was used to stuff the mummies
jar) was mixed with fats, probably with butter, but Schmidt,
to SniS. liad^of carefully investigated the question of the fatty
E^sTOwSawk.^ It acids present in mummies, has left the question open, as
Espiiair^nd '^then to whether Other fats were also used, or whether the fat
pfgmentr‘‘ius’^S which was mixed with the trona wms gradually derived
the body. It seems probable, however, that the
trona was mixed with butter.
Concerning the preparation of the resins used for
mummies, there are many researches by Reutter, Tschirsch, and others,
which were carried out on mummies of various ages. It is shown that
Fig. 1 88. — An
■Urn for En-
pure resins such as styrax, mastix, Aleppo resin, copal, asphalt, prob-
ably also turpentine from Chios, cedar resin and mixtures of these sub-
stances occurred. The presence of incense could nowhere be proved in
From a tomb in 'Uebes. Berlin Museum, Egyptian Department
these mummies, .so that the remark made by Herodotus is confirmed.
Its use was forbidden by religious decrees in Egypt. In Carthaginian
mummies, on the other hand, where these decrees were not in force,
we do find incense. The most varied essences w'ere used for perfuming
in Carthage; thyme and mint were favoured. According to Dorpfeld,
MUMMIES
129
th(' (irt-cks also preserved their corpses, namely, by smoking them.
Burning was only resorted to when the ash was to be transi)orledB 'Phe
Fm. 190. — A Mummy with Bandages removed
Berlin Museum, Egyptian Department
fact that preserving was also effected by excluding the air, by placing
bodies in honey, or pouring wax over them, is clear from the report of
Plutarch 40) about the death of Agesilaus in the Plarboiir of
Menelaus in Libya : ‘ As no honey was to be had, the Spartans poured
wax over the dead man, and carried him thus to Lacedaemon.' Hero-
dotus (IV, 71} makes a similar remark about the Scythians. In order
to bt; able to transport the corpses of their kings, they covered the
body with a wax, after having cut open the abdomen, cleaned it, and
filled it with powdered saffron, with perfumes, aniseed, and other sub-
stances, and then sewed it up again. As this stuffing has no preserv-
ing virtues, the preservation must have been due to the exclusion of
air by the wax.
Coloured painting on a white
backgrotmd. The fare is dark
red. TlielKis, Berlin Museum,
Egyptian Department
Fig. iqi. — The Covering
of a Mummy
This theory refers to prehistoric times, — Trans.
CERAMIC ARTS
THE DEVELOPMENT OF CERAMIC ART
A lthough ceramic art relates first and foremost to working
in clay, that is, to moulding clay into all manner of objects
of art and articles of daily use, we shall nevertheless in this
section also touch on the production of various building materials,
especially bricks. For in antiquity there were various relationships
between pottery proper, and the extraction of building materials, due
to the construction of the furnaces, the treatment of the material used,
and other factors. Pottery is without doubt one of the oldest of all
applied arts. It can be traced back to prehistoric times ; indeed, we
may well say, to the beginnings of the human race.^ Rohland makes
some noteworthy remarks about how vessels came to be made of clay.
He mentions that the French navigator Gonneville discovered on the
Brazilian coast wooden cooking vessels of the natives, which were sur-
rounded by a layer of loam ; if by chance the wooden shell became
loosened from the earthenware envelope, an earthenware vessel was left.
The German explorer Rau discovered in an old pottery of the Indians, on
the Mississippi, reeds and rushes which were lined with clay. When
they were heated, the wooden parts burned away, and the clay vessel
remained behind. So it seems that wooden vessels and woven vessels
were made water-tight by means of clay ; perhaps originally only by
rubbing clay in at the joints. When the clay became dry, it released
itself from the vessel, and so the first unfired article of pottery was
obtained. If now by chance a vessel of this kind fell into a fire, so that
the wood was burned, it would at once be recognized that the clay not
only withstood the heat of the fire, but indeed became harder and more
rigid. So that, in primeval times, chance probably taught the firing
of ceramic vessels. Other circumstances also conspired to make ceramic
art one of the most ancient technical achievements : clay can be shaped ;
it is plastic. If a human being walked through a layer of clay, this
property would immediately strike the eye. This property was then
used in order to give the clay any desired shape by pressing and kneading
it. Later, it was given its shape by means of tools, among which the
most important was the potter’s wheel. The date of the beginnings of
the wheel cannot now be ascertained, but it occurs among all people
of antiquitj^, and was probably first used in Asia Minor or Egypt. Very
old ceramic articles which have come from these places prove that the
wheel was used in making them ; in very ancient Egyptian pictures we
^ An exaggeration ; but it is as old as the Nealithic period. — Trans.
130
THE DEVELOPMENT OF CERAMIC ART
131
see the potter sitting at work using it (Fig. 192). I'lic fact that the
potter’s wheel was not discovered afresh by ail the peoples who used it,
but that it was spread abroad by inter-racial traffic and commercial
relationships over wide areas of the prehistoric and ancient world, is
supported by a remarkable circumstance, which perhaps proves that
the art of firing clay became transmitted in the same way. In all fired
clay of the first period, no matter whence it is derived, we find one and
the same sign, namely the crux ansata (Swastika), We find this
sign in Greenland, as well as at the southernmost point of Amei'ica ;
we find it in Scandinavia, as well as in Africa. It suggests that the
cradle of the clay industry, as regards the firing of clay and the use of
the potter’s wheel, was in Asia Minor or in Egypt.
In the most distant times, the clays used were from those uppermost
I’lG. iQi. — -Use of the Potter's Wheel (on the right)
Among the Egyptians at the time of the Manetho’s 12th Dynasty (2380 to 2167 b.c.). The meaning of the picture on
the left is not dear. The suggestion that glass is being blown is probably wrong, according to the arguments used in
the section on ‘ Glass page 152. The disc is turned with the left hand, whilst the right hand uses the fonning iron.
Wall painting iroin Beni Hasan
layers of the earth which just happened to be available. Later, clay
was specially selected ; it was recognized that, after being fired, one
clay assumed a different colour from another. The accidental admixture
of compounds of iron, manganese and other metals brought about this
effect. Perhaps experiments were made to discover the reason of this
colouring, and thus the foundations of a new technical science were
laid, which gave rise to coloured pottery, an art which in the course of
time, particularly in Greece and Rome, became developed to a high
degree of artistic excellence. We shall later treat coloured Greek and
Roman ceramic art in greater detail, and shall describe the manner in
which it was carried out. Glass fluxes also began to be used, and the
method of using them was also probably due to an accident. For it does
not seem impossible that sometimes, while earthenware vessels were
being fired, coloured or uncoloured alkaline or calcium silicates, that is
glazes, formed on the surface. These glazes are also found on very old
132 CERAMIC ARTS
specimens of pottery. Later still, the art of varnishing glaze also
became perfected to an extraordinary degree. Moreover, in the course
Fig. 193. — Tomb consisting of fourteen Brick
Provincial Museum o£ TrSves
of time, the clay was cleaned and improved by artificial methods, especi-
ally by washing. The improvement of furnaces proceeded parallel with
Fig. 194. — ^Roman. Tiles, -with Stamps
Provincial Mniieum, Trfives
this development. At first, the clay vessels were probably fired by
placing them on a charcoal fire and covering them with charcoal. It
must then often have happened that the vessel, particularly when it was
CF.RAMIC AR'r AMONG PEOPLES OF ANTIQUITY 133
glazed, baked fast and stuck to its base. Methods were therefore devised
for keeping the clay substances free so that they were brought into con-
tact only with the flames, and not with the burning fuel. Furnaces were
therefore invented, in which the fire chamber was separated from the
oven in which the material to be fired was placed. The simplest
furnace of this construction — in, its fundamental essentials — is still
much used, and is known in ceramic art under
the name ' Cassel furnace.'
The extensive use of clay objects in art, in the
household and in trade, made wholesale production
necessary : all ancient peoples built factories, in
which numerous workmen were occupied with
producing the forms and with firing. Towns of
considerable size required great quantities of clay
ware ; for these were used not only in the household
and for building, but also for many other purposes,
such as for making tombs (Fig. 193), In Rome
there is still a mound 166 ft. liigh and 2,500 ft. in
circumference, which consists entirely of broken
fragments of pottery ; it is known as Monte Tes-
taccio. The fragments represent pieces thrown
away during the unloading of goods des-
patched on the Tiber. Wholesale production led
to the making of improved apparatus which could give a more rapid
supply of earthenware. Forms were invented in which greater quanti-
ties could speedily be made than would have been possible by hand
(Fig. 194). As nowadays, so in antiquity, the individual factories and
workmen used stamps which were pressed into the clay. These stamps
tell us the name of the maker of the object (Fig. 194). An extensive
collection of ancient earthenware and brick stamps has been made by
Ludovici.
CERAMIC ART AMONG THE INDIVIDUAL PEOPLES
OF ANTIQUITY
The development of ceramic art sketched out above, took place
everywhere along fairly similar lines, and therefore we have been able to
treat it as a whole. We next discuss the special peculiarities of this
art among the individual peoples.
THE BABYLONIANS AND ASSYRIANS
As already mentioned, the cradle of ceramic art w^as probably Asia
Minor or Egypt, From here, this art spread over the Orient, and it
first became a flourishing industry in Babylon and Assyria, The Baby-
lonians and Assyrians not only made earthenware vessels, but also knew,
how to put an artistic finish to their bricks. In Assyria, we find bricks,
as well as ordinary clay stones, which have been dried in the sun, also
fired and glazed stones. Rathgen, with the help of a voluminometer,
an apparatus which tells how much of the clay has disappeared during
Fig, 195. — Modelling
Form, so-called Model-
ling Id-sh, with a cast
relief in clay for the
wholesale production of
ceramic decoration
Borlin Museum, Aiitiquariuui
CERAMIC ARTS
134
the firing, has determined the temperature that must have been reached
in the ancient Babylonian furnaces at the time of Nebuchadnezzar (604
to 561 B.c.) . He found that the bricks must have been fired at a temper-
ature of 550° to 600° G. This is a very low temperature, and it explains
why these bricks can be cut with a knife. The temperature of firing
clay nowadays is about i,oog° C. For a long time, the construction of
the ancient Babylonian furnaces was shrouded in mystery, until Hil-
brecht, in excavations in Nippur, for the first time discovered one of
these furnaces, dating from the year 200 b.c. Here, the fire-chamber
and the flame-space have been separated from each other in a very
curious way. For whereas among many of the ancient furnaces, and
also in the case of the ‘ Cassel furnace ’ already mentioned, the flame-
space lies at the side of the fire-chamber, it is here situated above it.
The top of the fire-chamber is provided with a number of slits, through
which the flames pass, and also the hot gases that are produced. The
earthenware objects to be fired stood over these fairly long slits. Bricks
were probably also fired on them ; as Herodotus reports, the clay that
was used for these bricks had been collected during the digging of the
trench around Babylon. Herodotus had been in Babylon, as Friedrich
Delitzsch has shown, and he can therefore be relied upon. He writes ;
' As they (the Babylonians) made the trench, they fashioned bricks out
of the earth which was thrown out of the trench ; and when they
had prepared a sufficient number of bricks, they burned them in brick
furnaces, and then used hot bitumen as a cement.'
The last remark proves that even at that time the porosity of these
bricks was put to good use in the case of ancient Babylonian structures,
as a non-porous brick cannot be so tightly attached to other bricks with
bitumen (asphalt). The great town-gate of Nippur, which was probably
built about the year 3000 b.c., was also made rigid by means of bricks
in the manner mentioned, which were joined together with asphalt.
Great interest was aroused when, in the year 1851, pieces of brick were
found in the ruins of Babylon, whose form and glaze led to the con-
clusion that they belonged to the figures of great lions. The prophet
Ezekiel, and also the Greek writer Diodorus, tell of the splendid clay
figures which adorned the walls of Babylon and depicted lion and tiger
hunts. More recently, these wonderful terra-cotta figures have been
rediscovered ; they are coloured dark-blue, light 'blue, white, yellow,
and green, and they show a black outline. It has also been possible to
get an idea of how these works of art were made. The process was
certainly a little circuitous, for since the bricks shrank during the firing,
there was the danger that if they were first formed, coloured and glazed,
they would aftenvards no longer fit together. The following procedure
was therefore adopted. The bricks were made wedge-shape, and then
fired. By this means it was possible to make the outer joints fit closely.
The bricks were then built up into a wall. On this the picture was painted
in outline, by means of a substance which became red after the firing. Even
if the building-up was not perfectly done, the drawing still remained
regular. The stones. were then marked, and the whole structure was
CERAMIC ART AMONG PEOPLES OF ANTIQUITY 135
again taken to pieces. The glaze was then put on the bricks within the
outlines marked on them ; and the bricks were then fired again — in
which process they no longer shrank, and yet allowed the glaze to be
burned in. The whole was then built up again, and the marks on the
bricks indicated where every stone belonged. The great lions in the
processional street of Nebuchadnezzar, which are 3 ft. high and 6| ft.
long, were at any rate first modelled or chiselled by a sculptor in a mould
in which they represented a ‘ negative so that the parts to be raised
were depressed, and the depressed parts raised. The clay which
served to make the bricks was then pressed into this form, so that
a clay plate resulted which contained the ‘ positive This large clay
plate was next cut up into several parts. Bricks were thus made which
were marked in the manner already described, and then fired, A sort
of wholesale manufacture of such gigantic specimens of plastic ceramic
art is represented by the twelve warriors, which were discovered in the
ancient Persian capital Susa ; the close resemblance between several of
them indicates clearly that they were produced from the same mould.
The wall on which they are situated was first built up, and the warrior
form was modelled on it. The model was then cut up in the manner
demanded by the position of the stones of the wall situated beneath.
Each brick so produced was then shaped, after it had been copied (and
a negative had been obtained) as often as required, 'lire outlines were
then marked on the form-brick by means of clay — so that they came
out as hollows in the negative but as prominences again in the final
bricks. In this way, there were formed, on these final bricks, shallow
.spaces into which the glaze could be filled, and over which it spread itself
when fired. These raised friezes, which are over 1 1 yards long, were made
in this way about the beginning of the fifth century b.c. Similar plastic
works are to be found in Babylon ; for example, the ornamental animals
on the triumphal arch of Ishtar.
In the above-mentioned city of Susa, terra-cotta vessels have been
found, which give us information about the production and composition
of ancient Persian domestic utensils. They are made from marly clay,
are of rather rough form, and not smoothed on the outside. On some
there are black ornaments which have been simply painted on the un-
baked clay with a brush. The black colour appeared only after
firing, but no lustre re.sulted. The firing temperature is estimated by
Granger to have been about 1,000® C. The chemical composition of
the vessels is as follows (according to Granger) :
Per cent.
Clayey substance . , . . . . . 28*57
.Sand, etc. . . 27*10
lime . . . . . . ... 37*58
Moistm'e . . . , , , , , . 2*70
Water (in composition) , . . , . . . 4*05
THE EGYPTIANS
The ceramic art of the Egyptians closely resembles, in its main
essentials, that of the Babylonians, Assyrians and Persians, which we
CERAMIC ARTS
have just described. Herodotus (II, 136) narrates of the brick pyramid
of King Asychis that it bears the inscription ; ‘ Do not consider me mean
Fig. 196. — Making Bricks among the Egyptians (about 2000 b.c.)
A : Two men are taking water out of a pool, in order to moisten the raw material (Nile nmd). B : Working the material
and earrying it away. C : Brick moulds in wooden boxes ; next to them is the overseer. D ; Piling up the t)ricks to
dry in the sun. K : Collecting together the finished bricks that have been dried in the sun, and building up a wall.
Deutsches Museum, Munich
in comparison with the stone pyramids, for I am as far above them as
Zeus above the other gods. For they thrust a pole deep into a marsh,
and collected that which
remained of the mud on
the rod, and made bricks
therefrom. In this way
they have built me.’ This
description of how clay
was extracted is certainly
noteworthy, but it can
hardly have been the only
method used. Pictorial
representations that have
been preserved, such as those
shown in Figs. 196 and 197,
which date back to the year
2000 B.C., give us sufficient
information about the man-
ner of making bricks in
Egypt. It hardly varies
from that practised by other
peoples. The bricks were
probably mostly dried in the
air, but firing-ovens were
Fig. 1 97. —Model of an Egyptian Brick-works also known, although none
Formiug and moulding the bricks by hand. Alleged to have been of thcSC haVC yct been
found on the eastern bank of Beliane and Nag Hamadi respectively. r i r . i i
Made of wood. i.| in.by ri in. Berlin Museum, Egyptian Department lOUnCl. In tlie nitn Cliap-
ter of Exodus, mention is
made of the manufacture of bricks in Egypt by the Jews, and it is
stated that straw was used in this process. The way in which the straw
was used remained obscure for a long time. It was regarded by many
as a mechanical cement. From experiments which were carried out by
the American Acheson on the elasticity and tensile strength of the loam
CERAMIC ART AMONG PEOPLES OF ANTIQUITY 137
used to make smelting crucibles, it was found that the addition of
(U'ganic substances, and particularly of straw, to loam, which was
afterwards dried, caused the breaking strength of the bricks so obtained
to rise from 84 lbs. to the square inch to 269 lbs. to the square inch :
liencc the strength of the brick was increased by 244 per cent.
Acheson did not doubt that the Egyptians knew of this action of
straw on the clayey mass, and he found that the presence of a substance
in the straw affected the loam in the same way as tannic acid affects
leather. The fact that straw was actually used for producing bricks in
Egypt, is proved by the imfired bricks of El Kab and the bricks of the
pyramids of Dahshur, in which, besides straw, leaves of plants and parts
of grasses {Triticum vulgare L., Hordeum vulgare L. and Hordeum hexa-
dichon L) were found. A further peculiarity of the ancient ceramic
art of ancient Egypt is to be noted in the remarkable earthenware
vessels which were, used at a very early date for keeping water and are
still in use nowadays on the Nile, namely, the so-called ‘ gullahs They
were fired at a very low temperature and were consequently very porous.
If Nile water was now poured into them on hot days, it passed through
the pores and evaporated on the outer surface of the jar. As it derived
the warmth necessary for this evaporation from its immediate surround-
ings, the water cooled very rapidly, in proportion to the rate of evapora-
tion. Consequently, on very hot days, the ‘ gullahs ’ provided par-
ticularly cool water, since on such days the air would be at a temperature
far removed from its saturation point. From theoretical reflections,
however, Dollinger has arrived at the conclusion that the greatest cooling
is effected by vessels placed in the shade and left in the draught. His
opinion is not shared in all points by von Luschan. Further details are
given in the section on ‘ Refrigeration and Preserving ’, page 122. For the
rest, the ordinary earthenware vessels of the ancient Egyptians, such as
were used in the household, exhibit no special peculiarities. They were
made (Fig. 198) in very much the same way as nowadays. They were
prepared from clay, which became red, yellow or brown after firing, and
they differ in no wise from the earthenware vessels in use among the other
peoples of antiquity. In contrast with them, however, the glazed
ceramic works of the ancient Egyptians arouses the greatest interest ;
it was formerly called ‘ Egyptian Porcelain ’ or ‘ Glazed Faience ’ — two
terms which are equally incorrect. They are due to Brongniart, who used
them for the first time in his Traite des Arts Ceramtques. They passed
over into the archaeological vocabulary, although they can be justified
neither from the technical nor from the chemical point of view. 1'hese
pseudo- ceramic objects contain no clay at all as an essential constituent.
Rather, they consist of sand, to which a small quantity of clay has been
added. The analyses made by William Burton prove that the material
of these vessels contains in general 94 per cent, of sand and up to 2 per
cent, of clay. The rest consists of accidental ingi-edients, chiefly lime
and magnesia. As the small quantity of clay contained in these does
not suffice to bind the sand sufficiently for a plastic and hence work-
able mass to result, Burton assumes that the ancient Egyptians used,
138 CERAMIC ARTS
for preparing their glazed coloured vessels, simply the natural sandstone,
which happened to contain a very small quantity of clay. The potter’s
wheel was not used at all ; rather, the sandstone was hollowed out.
To prove the correctness of the view that this very peculiar ancient
Egyptian art actually existed formerly. Burton quotes facts discovered
in his detailed investigations. In the first place, there are found in the
oldest Egyptian tombs small spheres, pendants from necklaces, and so
Fig. 198. — Making Earthenware Vessels in Egypt
Fig. 199. — So-called ‘ Glazed
Faience’ or ‘Egyptian Porcelain’
A thistle, probably from a chain. Above
and below, a link. The stern and the cup
are urcen, the rest is dark blue. Height,
,! in. Found in Thebes. Berlin Museum,
Egyptian Department
So-called ‘ Glazed
Just as nowadays, the clay is soaked, stamped bo, and then kneaded Faience ’ or 'Egyptian Porcelain’
by hand, and left to ‘ rot ’in lumps. It is then fomied by moans of the ■ , ,
potter’s wheel, which is turned with the left hand, The pieces are dried A child’s doll. A blue glaze. Length>
and fired in the furnace, which, as shown in the picture, is filled and nearly 6 in. Berlin Museum, Egyptian
emptied from above and heated from below Department
forth, which have been cut from stone that is harder than sandstone and
has been glazed (Fig. 199), With the help of the polarization micro-
scope, Burton further established that the basic substance of the earthen-
ware vessels actually consists of sandstone or some quartz-like stone.
This art was practised from the 18th Dynasty {1550 b.c.) onwards for
1,500 years in an unchanged form. Burton therefore suggests for these
vessels the name ' Ancient Egyptian Silica Vessels' or ‘ Quartz Vessels’.
CERAMIC ART AMONG PEOPLES OF ANTIOUITY 139
Since the sandstone itself has only a small coefficiency of rigidity, the
strength of the quartz vessels depends solely on the glaze. The glazes
are composed of alkaline silicates of lime ; they are for the most part of a
beautiful blue colour and contain the colouring matter copper oxide.
These glazes cannot be spread over ordinary earthenware at all, as they
do not flow smoothly over them ; they form a beautiful smooth surface
only on matter containing silica. It was only later, when the Romans
had already penetrated into Egypt, that the method of applying such
glazes to earthenware vessels was acquired. To do so, the device was
used of applying between the earthenware and the glaze a slip
Fig. 201. — ‘Egyptian Faience' Fig. 202. — 'Egyptian Faience’
Open wurlv or fret-work tablet, with rows of K ikxir in the lowest i hauiber of the stepp<‘d pyramid of Saqqarah. \
fiKurcs of gods vertically alwve one another, line of hieroglyphic inscription runs around the three sides of the main
The fifth row is broken. Light green glaze, portal. The niskle, outside and the sides are ornamented with green
Height, 3 1 in. ; width, 2 in. Berlin Musciiin, glazed tablets of ‘Egyptian Faience ’. A replica in the Berlin Museum,
Egyptian Department Egyptian Department
containing a high percentage of silica. Polychrome glazes occur in
Egyptian silica, but only in the later periods ; they reached the highest
perfection and were made in great variety under the sovereignty of
the Romans.
The investigations of Burton, which were at first much doubted,
have been confirmed by the German investigators Pukall and Bcrge,
who, entirely independently of him, came to the same conclusions from
their experiments. Pukall and Berge succeeded in reproducing the
turquoise-blue glaze from marble, soda, sand, and copper oxide. In
this way, they obtained beautiful turquoise surface colourings. By using
cobalt and manganese oxide, as well as chromium oxide, they obtained
140 CERAMIC ARTS
other splendidly coloured glazes. Le Chatelier in Paris also succeeded
in copying the coloured enamels of glazed Egyptian stones, statuettes,
and other objects. For the sandstone used, he finds exactly the same
composition as Burton, and the glazes which he produced are composed
essentially of silica, calcium carbonate, calcined soda, copper oxide, and
similar substances. Besides vessels, the Egyptians also enamelled tiles.
Since the Persian ceramists who lived at the time of the Egyptian
dyna.sties made tiles as weU as vessels and vases, in which the sandy
surfaces were covered with coloured enamels, we have reason for assuming
that the art of enamelling had its origin among the ancient Egyptians,
and that it then penetrated through the invasions of Cambyses (530-
522 B.C.), who advanced as far as Nubia, to Persia, and thence to the
rest of the ancient Orient. The Greeks and the Romans likewise
learned the art of enamelling from the Egyptians. Later, in post-Roman
times, this art was introduced from Egypt by Moors into Spain, whence
it spread over the rest of Europe.
A question which has given rise to much discussion is whether the
ancient Egyptians made porcelain. This question has in many cases
been answered in the affirmative, probably on account of the terms
mentioned above, and introduced by Brongniart. Now, porcelain is
actually found in Egypt, but it has been proved that in all cases it is
derived from China, and that it was introduced from China — probably
rather late — into Egypt. Le Chatelier asserts that genuine Egyptian
porcelain actually exists. He has examined a sample derived from
the Morgan collection, and discovered exactly the same composition
as that which white porcelain of Sfevres still has nowadays. The result
of the analysis was :
Per cent.
Silica . .88-6
Aluminium oxide , . . . . , . i'4
Iron oxide ........ >4
Lime ......... a-i
Soda 5-8
Copper oxide . . . . . . . . 17
lOO’O
Le Chatelier succeeded in producing the same substance artificially
by using a temperature of 1,050° C, For the rest, it is known that
porcelain was invented by the Chinese. It has not yet been possible
to establish definitely when this invention was made, but the date is by
no means so far back as was formerly believed. The existence of porce-
lain among the Chinese is established with certainty for about a.d. 600,
although there are certain indications that the first porcelain objects
were perhaps produced in China about 200 b.c. Little is known about
the ancient Chinese method of making porcelain. Recent investigations
by the Japanese savant Hirano have at least shown that the form of
ancient Chinese furnaces for making porcelain still exists here and there.
These furnaces, which consist of three or more chambers, are built up on
CI:RAMIC art among peoples of AN'noUITV 141
a tlcclivity in siicli a way that one chamber is always sitnaled a little
liigher than the last. In this way, the draught necc>ssary for l)urniiig
]''iG. 203. — Anfient Chinese Furnace, consisting of various Chambers
is produced, and no chimney is necessary, which therefore is not present
at all, or is very low and attached to the last chamber (Fig. 203). A
vspecial furnace was probably used for burning on the glaze.
THE GREEKS
The ceramic art of antiquity reached its zenith in Greece, The form
and appearance of its products attained the highest degree of perfection,
the clay and the object formed from it being a welcome field for artistic
activity. All other arts were enlisted in the service of ceramic industry,
indeed they were derived from it ; for does not Greek fable ^ state that
painting, as well as plastic art, was discovered in the workshop of the
potter Butades ? There is without doubt an element of truth in this
myth— at least in so far as it refers to a definite branch of plastic art,
namely bronze-casting. Before clay could be formed and fired, it was
impossible to produce works of art cast from bronze. Thus, the casting
of bronze must have been preceded by ceramic art, which served as a
guide and a lead. There are intimate relations between Greek and
Roman wall-paintings and the paintings on Greek vases. The painting
of vessels among the Greeks became a model for the painting of friezes —
indeed for the production of pictures.
In examining Greek vases, which represent the zenith of ancient
Plellenic ceramic art, two aspects must be sharply diherentiated ; the
artistic and the technical point of view. Although these vases are perfect
in artistic respects, they are just the contrary from the technical point
1 The reference is to a late and silly story told in Pliny, N.H. XXXV, 15 1. —
Trans.
CERAMIC ARTS
142
of view. In Greece, too, ceramic art attained a great age. The earliest
excavations— above all, those of Schliemann in Troy, those at Mycenae
and other places — ^brought to light numerous earthenware vessels. But
even before Schliemann, in the twenties of the last century, numerous
vases were discovered in Etruria, which, on account of their origin, were
regarded as products of the Etruscans. Later excavations showed, how-
ever, that these were Greek products.^ Since then, such vases have been
excavated in enormous numbers in various places, so that we now have
abundant material at our disposal. An endless number of publications
have appeared about them, but they discuss the Greek vases almost in
all cases only from the archaeological and artistic point of view. The
technical aspect received less attention. Only recently, more attention
has been paid to the ancient Greek ceramic art by the technical scientist.
It was then discovered, as already indicated above, that the technical
processes were by no means perfect. Above all, no very high temper-
ature was reached, and consequently the clay remained too porous for
Fig. 204. — Greek Potter’s Wheel. Corinthian Pinax. Paris, Museum of the Louvre
many purposes. It did not frit together sufficiently densely, and the
glaze was not first applied in order to embellish it, but rather it served
the necessary purpose of making the vessel water-tight, to make it
impenetrable — ^t^Eich it would not perhaps be otherwise. Out of this
necessity there then grew a virtue ; the glaze, and also the painting under
it, were developed to a high degree of artistic excellence. In general,
Greek vases are black, brown or red, and are more or less polished. At
the end of the third century b.c. a glaze appeared on them. They are
often so porous that we can understand that the glaze was necessary,
for even if water — as in the Egyptian gullah — might have kept very fresh
in many of these vessels, they were probably quite inappropriate for other
purposes. The potter's wheel was used in the earliest times ; Homer
mentions it ; he compares the whirling motion of dancers to the
revolving of the potter’s wheel [Iliad, XVIII, 600), while Diodorus
names Tabs (otherwise Kalos or Perdix) nephew of Daidalos, as its
inventor. In all cases the potter’s wheel is turned by hand. Moulds were
not used, but forming rods. The construction of the Greek potter’s
^ Italy abounds both in important Greek pottery and in local ware, Etruscan
and other, from Neolithic times on.-; — Trans.
CERAMIC ART AMONG PEOPLES OF ANlTOUri'Y 143
wheel is made beautifully clear to us on a Corinthian votive tablet in the
Louvre in Paris (Fig. 204). The disc is shown in cross-section, and has,
as we see, bearings at the centre. This bearing consists of a conical
hole placed over a pivot, which widens conically towards the bottom.
To prevent the disc from raising itself up, the pivot, so it appears, is
])rovided with a hole above the disc, through which a pin can be thrust.
The part of the pivot which projects beyond the disc carries a"cover,
whiclx is visible in the picture ; and it is here that the clay that is to be
worked is placed. The pivot is also hollowed out conically inside, and
rests on a second massive conical pivot, about which it can turn. In
order to keep his sphere of action clear the potter seizes the disc at the
opposite side of the rim, or on the side remote from the body, and
turns it. In the other hand ho holds a bent forming-rod, which —
judging by its appearance — we assume is used to shape the upper rim
of the vessels. The potter must possess great manipulative ability.
The rim of the vessels is always made thick, to give it greater strength.
Fig. 205, — A red-figured Greek Vase (best period).
Berlin Altes Museum, Antiquariuin
The vessels were painted in manifold ways, and the colours were
applied by means of a brush. In many cases the vases were painted
completely black. The painting was carried out on the moist clay,
which rapidly absorbed the colour. The figures were protected during the
jxrocess so that they appeared yellow or red on the black background. Fine
lines and other marks were scratched on the black background by means
of sharp instruments. The black colour is always applied so thinly that
it does not stand out in relief. Many colours, particularly yellow, which
consists of yellow ochre, were always applied under the glaze ; and
others, above all white and red, occurred chiefly above it. Whereas in
the older art only the colours mentioned were used, violet, green and blue
apjxeared later. (For the chemical composition of Grecian colours, sec the
section on ‘ Colours.') The gilding of vessels is met with in the earliest
times. For example, Mrs. Harriet Boyd Hawes excavated vases in
Crete, whose age was probably about 3,500 years, and which were used
for sacrificial purposes. They are so superbly gilt that they were at
first thought to be gold vessels. Only a closer investigation revealed
th eir real nature . At the same place, vases were foil nd which were silvered
CERAMIC ARTS
144
in a similar way. In the Greek National Museum at Athens, there is an
earthenware vase of this sort, which comes from the tombs of the (yclades,
going back to the year 2500 b.c. It is massive in form, in order to give
the illusion of being a metal vase, and it has been silvered with great
dexterity. The coating of gold and silver was applied by means of metal
foil. The handle and other excrescences were made separately, and
attached to the finished vase. Barbotine served as a cement. The
beautiful black glaze of antique Grecian vases has been the subject of
many researches. It was firstly found that the beautiful red of the clay
resulted from its being burned in a natural way with abundant access
of air. The analysis of the glaze, which was carried out in many cases,
proved that only iron oxide was present, which could not explain the
mystery of this splendid black coating, until Verneuil succeeded in making
it by fusing together iron filings, soda
and the marly clay, of which the vessel
was formed, in an oxidizing fire. The
result was an opaque black glaze with
green fluorescence, which possessed
the characteristic properties of Greek
glaze. Verneuil considers it probable
that the Greeks obtained finely divided
iron through reduction of iron com-
pounds by means of charcoal and soda,
and that they then added this to the
marly clay and soda. The beautiful
black surface might also then have
come about owing to the favourable
circumstance that the soda used in
Greece was not pure, but contained
admixtures of carbon, sodium sulphide
and sodium chloride. It does not
seem out of the question, however,
that finely filed iron (iron filings) may have been added in place of the
iron obtained by reduction in the manner just described. Franchet con-
firms the use of iron, but he does not consider it probable that iron
filings or reduced iron was used. Rather, he believes that the Greeks
made use of the mineral magnetic oxide of iron, magnetite, which occurs
freely in Nature, for producing their glaze ; it always contains a small
amount of manganese. By melting together 55 parts of quartz sand
with 45 parts of soda, and by adding 100 parts of magnetite to the molten
mass, he obtained a glaze which resembled exactly that of the Greek
vessels, and which also exhibited their blue or green fluorescence. (For
further particulars about the chemistry of black glaze see page 15 1.)
If we leave out of account the ordinary articles of use, which do not
differ from those of other peoples, we recognize a very particular product
of Greek ceramic art in the so-called ‘ Tanagra ’ figures, which derived
their name from the town Tanagra in Boeotia, where they were first dis-
covered in 1874 in the necropolis on the Kokkali Hill. These pretty figures
(^f:ramic art am()N(; peoples of akhoitty 145
consist of a liini]) which has been burned red and painted with disleinper.
They were technically produced in this way ; the sculptor first inaclc a
model, which was then pressed into a mould of piaster or clay, so that
two negatives which titled w'ell together were made, 'i'he two hollow
sjiaces in the middle were then filled with clay and pressed together.
'I'he result was a plastic figure surrounded by a kind of seam formed by
tiu! edges of the hollow mould, d'his .seam was removed by means of a
wooden spatula. The figure was then fired and painted with size colours.
Curiously enougli, although so many and .such different ceramic products
were made in Creece, among them very large objects such as amphorae
and decorations for the favades of houses, nothing was known until quite
recently about the firing of these objecl.s. On the vasi's there are indeed
found ])ictures of anciimt (irecian furnaces, on which worknum can be
recognized who are looking through openings into the furnace, and to
protect thiunseK’es from the glow, are holding their hands in front of
their faces ; but real potters’ furnace's were not found till quite recently,
wdien some specimens were discovered in Mycenae which in their e.ssentials
resemhhid the Roman furnaces, but differed from them by having the
pillar which supports the arched roof round instead of rectangular (see
page 149).
THE ROMANS
The ceramic art of the Romans was in many ways influenced by that
of the Greeks. On the whole it does not differ much at first in its essen-
tials ; and indeed a common main stream runs through the ceramic art
of the whole of antiquity, whose characteristics w'e have described in
detail at the beginning of this section. Later on, in Roman ceramic art,
just as in that of other peoples, particular methods developed, of w'hich
some did not even originate on the Italian peninsula. As an example
of this, we may quote the barbotinc process, which was practised in the
Gallic and Rheni.sh provinces of the Roman Empire, and which was not
known in Rome and in Italy. It has been discovered only recently
that it w^as also known in Egypt and Asia Minor. It consists in washing
the clay till it is very fine and then, by stirring it with water, forming a
thin barbotine. This is then filled into a funnel provided with a fine
orifice from which it escapes in a thin stream on to the earthenware
vc.ssels to be decorated. In this way, raised ornaments appear on the
earthenw^are ve.ssels. We see that this is the same process as that nowa-
days still u.sed by confectioners in order to decorate their pListry with
inscriptions and figures. Whereas, originally, simple ornaments such
as circles and lines w'ere applied, later, really magnificent show-pieces
were made by the barbotine process, which exhibited entire hunting
scenes and the like,
A further peculiarity of Roman ceramic art was tlie almost complete
Eibsence of glaze. The firing process is thus technically better than that
of the Greeks. Where a glaze is present, it is mostly of a green colour,
but there are also black glazes, and some with a touch of yellow. 'I'he
black glazed vessels often carry inscriptions,
T.A.S.— 10
CERAMIC ARTS
Besides the barbotine process, special effects were produced by
throwing gritty particles on to the stiff wet vessels. In this way a rough
surface is produced, such as we stiff use for covering the walls of houses.
Roman ceramic art worked itself out most characteristically, however,
in that species of earthen-
ware which is called
terya sigillata on account
of its similarity with im-
presses of seals carrying
relief, or else on account
of its being decorated
with raised figures {sigilla) .
(This term is of recent
origin, and was not used
by the ancient Romans.)
The names ‘ Samian ’ or
‘ Arretine ' pottery are
used because the vessels
were perhaps for the first
time made on the island
of Samos, and because the
most important factories
for producing them were
in Arretium, in Etruria.
The terya ^igillata repre-
sented the finer types of
earthenware that existed
in ancient Roman times.
We find vessels or frag-
ments of terra sigillata
wherever the Romans
penetrated. They are
sometimes of light, some-
times of dark red, simple
in form, or of noble con-
tour, smooth or orna-
mented. But all of them exhibit a beautiful velvety matt finish.
It is this finish which constitutes their real beauty. The terra sigillata
presented science with a problem that was difficult to solve. In spite
of all endeavours, it was for a long time impossible to discover the secret
of its production. Red earthenware vessels could be produced, but
none of them had the beautiful and characteristic matt lustre of surface.
Numerous chemists and ceramists spent decades seeking to solve the
question. In the porcelain factory in Berlin no fewer than two thousand
specimens were fired. Great sums of money, amounting to thousands
of pounds, were expended on these experiments, in which experimenters
went so far as to use the ancient clay deposits and instruments which
had been discovered in the excavations. The most detailed scien-
Fig. 207. — ‘Barbotine’ Vase (so-called, ‘Vase of
the Gocl-s from St. Matthia.s ’)
Black glazed goblet with a head and inscriptions painted. The rest is
made in relief hy means of a conical sprinkling bag Provincial
Museum, Trdves
CERAMIC ART AMONG PEOPLES OF ANTIQUri'Y 147
tilic investigations were made in order to discover the secret. As an
instance of the thoroughness of these efforts, we may quote an example.
Many of the clays used by the ancient Romans contained microscopic
particles of magnetic iron ore. During the firing, these particles assume
a definite position, by setting themselves like the magnetic needle of a
compass, so as to point along the magnetic lines of the earth. From the
position of these particles of ore, scientists endeavoured to calculate
the place at which the vessels were made, and also the temperatures
which were used for firing. In short, no means were neglected which
might serve as a clue, (Concerning this magnetic iron ore, see also
page 151.)
The same happened as in many other cases. In a lecture given
at the Association of the Friends of Saalburg, in Berlin, in 1907,
Diergart spoke the prophetic words: ‘ With the solution of this problem
of the terra sigillata,th& same will happen as with the egg of Columbus " ;
it is very simple when once it has been found. ’ [ Events proved that Diergart
(who had spent nearly ten years of his life on this particular problem) was
right. The solution has now been found, A simple potter in the little
village Sulzbach in the Bavarian Oberpfalz, called Karl lri.scher, succeeded,
in collaboration with his son George Fischer, in lifting the veil from this
secret of ancient Roman art ; and how simple is the solution ! — ^truly
an ‘ egg of Columbus’. The new vessels of the terra sigillata type,
which differ in no respect from the ancient Roman vessels, are made in
three stages. At first, the rough objects which are either unfired, or
only slightly fired, are covered with a coloured layer of clay mud. This
clay mud must be in a very finely divided state, as it is this factor which
produces the velvety lustre. It must have the further property of turning
red when fired. There are a considerable number of such clays, so
that it is not at all difficult to procure them. When this first stage is
complete, namely covering the vessel with clay mud — the ‘ slip ' as
potters call it — ^the next step follows. This consists in polishing the
surface by means of a brush until a very shiny surface is obtained.
In the third stage, the earthenware is completely fired, and care has to
be taken that the top layer of clay mud, the ‘slip’, becomes hard.
The highest authorities in this branch of applied art, such as Diergart and
Bllimlein of Homburg, have asserted that the objects produced by the
Fischer method differ in no way from their antique predecessors. The
inventor has produced by his process a number of vessels from antique
moulds that have been excavated, and even experts have not been able
to distinguish them from the antique examples. The Curator of the
National Museum at Munich, Dr. M. Halm, expressed the opinion
that the new terra sigillata vessels resemble the originals so extraordin-
arily closely in their whole character, above all in their warm tone and
their metallic ring, that only a specialist in archaeological studies would
be able to di.stinguish between the original and the modern copy. He
advised the inventor to affix the seal of his firm to all the copies, in order
that they may be recognized, and may not be used for fraudulent pur-
poses. Although it cannot be stated with certainty that Fischer’s
148 ■ CERAMIC ARTS
method is exactly the same as that of the ancient Romans, and certain
doubts have been expressed in this connexion — it has been alleged, for
Fro. 208. — Roman Potters’ Furnaces
On the left is the furnace of Castor in, Northamptonshire. On the right is the furnace of Heiligenberg, near Strasbourg,
Both were first described by Brongniart. Copies in the Deutsches Museum, Munich
example, that there are certain difference,s (such as those caused by
drops that^ have fallen
As seen from the fron^t space in which the workmen sat to supervise the firing. Fig. 209, a view of the fire-space and
of the perforated bottom of the flame-space. Fig, aio, a view of the preserved part of the flame-space
sigillata wares makes it appear very probable that the processes were
the same.
CERAMIC ART AMONG PEOPLES OF ANTIQUITY 149
Concerning the method by which the Romans tired their clay objects
wc have received detailed information from numerous finds of furnaces,
as well as potteries furnished with them. Although individual furnaces
difier in small constructional details, they are fairly similar in their
essentials. Above all, the fire-chamber and the flame-space are always
separated. The fire-chamber is often so far away from the flame-space
that the flames no longer enter the latter, but only the hot gases that
are emitted. As a rule, the flame-space is of circular form ; the bottom
is perforated so that the flames or the hot gases, or both, can enter into
it. The top is mostly arched, and supported in the middle by a square
column. The diameter of the flame-space is nearly always small, amount-
ing at most to 6| to 10 feet, and often less. These small dimensions made
it possible to remove the whole cupola from small firing apparatuses so
Fig. 21 1. —Model of a Roman Pottery in the Stadtisches Historisches Museum,
Frankfort-on-the-Main.
On the right is the muffle-furnace with an arched roof. (Constructed by Gondlach.)
that fuel could be inserted and extracted when burned out. Larger ones
were provided for this purpose with a special aperture. Furnaces were
either round or oblong. For instance, at Aquincum, nowadays called
Ofen, a suburb of Budapest, seven specimens of the oblong type were
discovered, in the vicinity of which there were five of the round ones
(according to Doufrain), a proof that this was once the seat of a great
industry. Of the oblong furnaces, some served for firing earthenware
vessels, others for making roof tiles. The best preserved kinds are
surrounded by walls about 3^ to 5 ft. thick. A fire channel 4 ft. high and
31 ft. wide passes right down the centre of the whole apparatus. The
distance from the upper surface of the arched roof to the floor is 2^ ft. ;
and from the bottom of the fire-channel to the floor it is about 6| ft. The
lower part of the masonry of the channel consists of trachyte blocks, and
above them is some brickwork 2| ft. thick. The channel projects 3-I ft. from
the furnace proper, and thus forms the fire-space, the praejuvnium. From
the main channel, there branch off at each side eight side channels, about
10 in. wide. The mouths of these lateral channels are situated ft.
above the base of the main channel The lateral channels slope up from
150 CERAMIC ARTS
the main channel at an angle of 45 degrees, and end at the wall surround-
ing the furnace. The individual intervening walls, arches and buttresses,
are 12 in. thick, and built up from unfired bricks of dimensions 12 X 12
X 4 in. Everything is covered with a clay layer nearly i in. thick,
and here and there we find lumps of enamel hanging in the channels. To
distribute the flames, there are holes 2 in. in diameter arranged in 12
to 15 rows. The furnaces probably had no arched roof, and it appears
that before any firing was undertaken, they were covered up with earth.
Of the circular furnaces, two are connected by a channel, which leads us
to conclude that the smaller one was heated by the overflow of heat from
the other, and that it served to fire objects (forms for moulds, stamps
and so forth) which were not to be raised to too high a temperature. In
some places, as for example near Waiblingen in Wiirtemberg, there
are furnaces for firing clay, which date back to a.d. 150 ; they are
not made of loam or tiles, but have been cut directly out of the clay
soil. In the lower part there is the fire-chamber divided into two parts,
and above this is the floor of the drying space, in which holes have been
cut in order to allow the hot air to enter ; above this, as can still be
districtly recognized from the remains, rose a vaulted roof provided
with a chimney. The inner walls of the furnace have become quite
glazed, owing to the continual heat. On the floor in front of every
furnace there is a depression, in which the workmen who served the
furnace used to sit. According to the charred remains that have been
found, beechwood was used as a fuel. The Roman potters’ furnaces
occurred in a particularly excellent form called ' muffle ' furnaces, which
are found here and there ; in them, the fuel was enclosed in a muffle,
which entirely prevented any gases from entering. The muffles did
not look like those of nowadays. They were not closed on all sides, but
rather the whole fire chamber served as a muffle, A number of pipes
passed through it, starting from the opening of the base of the furnace,
and becoming narrower as they led up to the arched top. The flames
and the hot gases passed along these pipes and communicated their heat
through their walls to the firing-space. There are certain indications
which appear to signify that in some furnaces there wa.s^ actually a sort
of gcis fuel used ; at any rate, the fire-chamber leads us to conclude that
here a combustible gas was produced, which was ignited in the furnace
itself. Thus, the construction of the furnaces varied in very many
ways, but in all of them we see that the Romans had an eye to what best
answered the particular purpose.
THE TEUTONS
It must yet be mentioned that the high excellence of Roman ceramic
art also exerted a fruitful influence on the technical science of other
peoples, in particular of the Teutons in ancient Germany. Under Roman
rule, numerous Germans became expert potters, as is easily recognized
from the stamps on the bricks and other earthenware objects. These
Germans at first made their vessels of unwashed clay and dried them in
the sun, or else they fired them in an open flame, so that they remained
CERAMIC ART AMONG PEOPLES OF ANTIQUITY 151
fairly soft and porous. The invasion of the Romans changed all this.
The clay was washed ; the clay furnaces allowed higher temperatures
to be obtained and therefore harder earthenware, while the potter’s
wheel gave rise to better forms. According to reports of Heuser about
Ludovici’s researches, the red glaze of the earthenware term sigillata
was subjected to a process of smoking, the air being excluded. The
colouring of the carbon gave rise to a brilliant black glaze. Ludovici
has established that
another process for pro-
ducing these terra nigra
vessels had its origin in
the fact that insufficient
access of air caused the
red iron oxide of the glaze
and of the clay to be trans-
formed by reduction into
black ferro- oxide. The
author is of the opinion
that it was probably not
the black ferrous oxide
(FeO), as this is not at all
known in the pure state,
on account of its great
affinity for oxygen, ’ but
that rather Luclovici’s re-
mark relates to the well-
known lustrous black
powder which consists of
metallic iron and ferrous
oxide — ^which is obtained
by the action of carbon
monoxide and carbon dioxide on red-hot ferric oxide (Fe.20;,). Owing
to the insufficient supply of air, both these gases were probably
present during the heating process. This magnetite (Fe.sO^), which
was already mentioned on page 147 as being present in the terra
sigillata, however, also makes the conclusion possible that some com-
pound was also formed in the case of the terra nigra, which had been
formed in considerable quantities from the red iron oxide (FesO.). That
may ea.sily be determined by means of micro chemical analysis.
According to Forster, the black glaze on Greek vases con,sists of a ferrous
oxide compound (that is, not of the pure ferrous oxide), probably com-
bined with silicon dioxide. (Concerning the supposed addition of metallic
iron to black glaze, see also page 144.) The black smoked ware was
then sent out, particularly at the time of the Emperor Augustus, as
terra nigra from the land of the Treveri, and from other places of manu-
facture, to all parts of the world.
Fig. 212.— Roman-Germanic Earthenware, of a
particularly good form
From a cremation grave. Provincial Museum, TrSves
GLASS
THE ORIGIN OF GLASS
F or a long time it was believed that the Phoenicians were the
inventors of glass ; this belief is traced back to Pliny. But we
must consign this story to the realm of fables, for, long before
the Phoenicians, the Egyptians manufactured glass and made the most
varied objects from it, above all, ornaments. The oldest of all known
pieces of glass is to be found in the Egyptian section of the Berlin Museum. ^
It is a greenish glass bead, which was found with other objects in a
prehistoric Egyptian grave containing a body in the contracted position.
This antique bead, which is about 5,400 years old, was for a long time
regarded as a stone, and indeed as being made of quartz, until a little crack
was found in it, which made it possible to fracture off a minute particle,
which could be subjected to a chemical microscopic test. This test, which
was carried out by Rathgen, showed that when the stone was treated
with iodized eosin solution, a strong red colour was produced, which
proved that the object was made of glass — since quartz does not change
colour under the same treatment. By the addition of powders and treat-
ing with ammonium fluoride and sulphuric acid, it could be established
that besides silicon dioxide the bead also contained calcium and sodium,
which means that it must be regarded as a calcium-sodium glass. We
shall leave it an open question whether it was made intentionally, or
whether it was derived as a by-product from brick glazes. But the
analysis of the bead proves that the Egyptians had knowledge of a number
of noteworthy technical methods even 3500 years before the beginning
of our calendar. They were not only able to heat quartz (silicon dioxide)
to its melting temperature, but they also knew that the silicon dioxide
contained in rocks could form a glaze-like compound, when salt or soda 2
was added to it.
Moreover, they knew how to give the molten mass a definite form.
They were also aware very early of how to produce colourings ; proof of
this is furnished by a glass rod which is also among the Egyptian objects
in the Berlin Museum. This glass rod consists of a number of blue and
whitish strips of glass, which have been fused together in such a way that
1 Flinders Petrie makes mention in his book The Royal Tombs of the Earliest
Dynasties, in relation to Plate XXXVIII, Figs. 53 and 57 (age of Seti), of a piece
of green glas.s, which is perhaps older than that in the Berlin Museum, but details
of this piece of glass are wanting, .
- Which of the two sodium salts was used is not known ; the author is inclined
to believe that it w'as the natural soda, that occurs in Egypt.
EGYPTIAN GLASS MANUFACTURE 153
they make up the name Amenemhat III, who lived about the year 1830
B.c. (Fig. 213). A somewhat more recent piece which is in the British
Museum, dates back to the year 1500 B.c. It is the oldest known glass
P'lG. 213. — Glass Stick with the name Amenemhat HI (about 1830 b.c.)
Millefiori Art. Length, i-56 in. ; width, -4 in. ; thickness, -2 in. Berlin Museum, Egyptian Department
vessel and is made of light-blue glass with brown stripes. Since it bears
the name Tutmosis (Thothmes III), it was easy to determine accurately
the date when it was made.
EGYPTIAN GLASS MANUFACTURE
We next inquire how the Egyptians manufactured their glass, and
C'how they succeeded in converting it into the very different objects which
are discovered in excavations. In a tomb at Beni Hasan there is a
relief, which is probably of about the year 1900 b.c. ; on it we see men
apparently working at a glass, vessel by means of long pipes. For a long
time it was believed that these were glass-blowers, and that the pipes were
the usual pipes of the glass-blower. But Kisa and others have proved
that this relief represents not glass-blowers but metal-workers, who
are blowing up a furnace. An excavation made about 25 years ago
by Flinders Petrie in Tel-el-Amarna, part of which passed over into
the Berlin Museum (Figs. 214 and 215), gives us information as to
how the ancient Egyptians prepared and treated their glass. This
excavation represents an ancient Egyptian glass works of the year 1370
B.c. According to the researches of Flinders Petrie , the glass was obtained
by fusing together quartz and alkaline salt in clay crucibles. A colourless
product resulted, to which coloured frit was added, whose preparation we
shall return to presently. During the fusing process, tongs were used to
take samples of the fused mass, which served for testing the colour.
When the glassy flux had the right colour, it was cooled, and the crucible
was broken, in order to release the glass. In this way, a shapeless mass
was formed, which had to be given a suitable form, to enable it to be
worked. For this purpose, the pieces of glass were separately softened in
the furnace, and then rolled oh a hard base by means of a metal stick.
In this way, a cylindrical glass stick was formed, which represented the
raw material and served for making objects of the most varied kinds.
154 GLASS
The coloured frit which was used to tint the glass proper, is simply,
according to its chemical composition, finely divided glass flux, whose
origin was probably due to an accident. The raw materials used for
-Pieces of Glass out of the glass factory of Tcl-cl-Amarna (about
Variously coloured Sticks, Fragments of Beads
Berlin Museum, Egyptian Department
-Fragments of coloured glass Sticks and Vessels from Tel-el-Amarna (about
1370 B.C.)
Berlin Museum, Egyptian Department
EGYPTIAN GLASS MANUFACTURE 155
manufacturing glass probably in many cases contained iron. Now, if the
glass flux contains iron, it acquires a different colour, according to whether
it is treated in an oxidizing or a reducing fire, namely reddish-brown or
green respectively (as in the case of red and green wine-bottles) . As it is
probable that before the use of crucibles, the
glass flux was melted together in pits dug in
the ground, and as the fire could not be accu-
rately regulated, even when crucibles were
used, red and green masses were obtained indis-
criminately, which were used for colouring the
glass. Later, further colours were added, which
arose from various impurities which were con-
tained in the materials used. There are violet
glasses, which contain manganese, blue and red
glasses which owe their colour to the presence
of copper compounds, and so forth. Experi-
ence and accident served as a teacher, and gave
rise to an ever-lengthening scale of colours. In
the course of time, it was also learned how to
remove the colour from a glass tinted through
the presence of iron, by adding substances con-
taining manganese ; and before this, it had been •
recognized that when very pure Nile sand was
used to make glass, a colourless product resulted.
The colourless glasses of Ancient Egypt are
indeed opaque nowadays, as they have
become dull owing to the action of time. But
it has been established that from the first cen-
tury B.c. onwards, the old coloured glasses had to make way for the
colourless glass ; that is, coloured glass went out of fashion. Although
this signifies an advance technically, it also denotes the decay of the
glazier’s art, which was at its zenith in the i8th and 19th Dynasty (1550
to 1200 B.C.). At this zenith, there was an abundance of colours and of
forms, such as had never existed before, and never occurred since.
The cylindrical sticks which came out of the glass crucibles were, as
already mentioned, the supply which was used for further working the
glass into all types of vessels, vases, amulets, ornaments, and even
imitation jewels, and so forth. The relief from Beni Hasan, quoted above,
has led some archaeologists to surmise that the art of the glass-blower was
indigenous in Egypt in very early times. But it has been shown that the
vases and other hollow vessels were not blown, but were formed in another
way. A clay core was first made, which had the shape of the vase to be
formed. It was fastened on to a stick, so that it could be conveniently
manipulated. A glass stick from the supply made as above was then
taken, softened and placed in this state about the clay core. A second
glass stick was next treated in the same way, and a third, and so on,
until the whole core was covered with the glass mass. The whole was
then held in the furnace, where it was further heated, whilst being con-
156 GLASS
stantly rotated, so that the sticks fused together well. When the vase
was ready, the clay core, which had become shrunken during the firing,
was broken, and its pieces were taken out separately. In the first century
B.e. another method of producing hollow vessels arose. Clay models were
again used, but in this case they were not solid, but hollow moulds, which
Fig. 217. — Glass Rosettes from the case
of a mummy. The glass particles have
been fixed into a layer of stucco
Discovered at Abusir el Meleq. Berlin Museum,
Egyptian Department
could easily be prepared by means of
the potter’s wheel. After they had
been fired, the liquid glass mass was
poured in, and was swung round
inside, until it covered the inner
walls. When the clay model was
removed, a glass vessel remained
behind. Even large objects were
produced in this way from glass.
Thus Sesostris had a statue cast in
glass as early as 1643 b.c.
Glass-blowing was unknown in
Egypt as late as the time of the
Ptolemys (311-30 b.c.). It is with-
out doubt an invention of the
Phoenicians, which was made some
time between 20 b.c. and a . d . 20
in Sidon. How the idea of blowing glass came up can probably no
longer be established. The assumption of Kisa that it arose through
observing soap bubbles is probably hardly in agreement with the facts,
as the use of a soap which would be appropriate for producing bubbles is
more than doubtful among the Phoenicians. The Phoenicians learned the
art of making glass and working it from the Egyptians, and they spread
it over wide parts of the Orient. The discovery of glass-blowing gave
their glass industry a new impetus. The first products of glass-blowing
were small vases, as well as vessels for balsams and essences. They were
ornamented in relief, and on them— mostly on the handles — the artists,
who were not a little proud of their art, perpetuated their names. The
best known of them was called Ennio.
Fig. 218. — Statue of a Man. Made of
Limestone ; the eyes are of glass
Of the Old Kingdom in Egypt. Found at Saq-
qarah. Height, 2 ft. ; width, ii in. ; length, 14 in.
Berlin Museum, Egyptian Department
THE GREEKS
157
Wc must here mention another ancient Egyptian form of the art of
making glass, which was communicated to the Phoenicians by the ancient
Egyptians, and thence to other peoples. We mentioned above the
peculiar prismatic piece of glass, dating back to the time of 1830 b.c.,
which was prepared from blue and white strips of glass, and which
exhibits at its two ends the name of the King Amenemhat III ; the letters
are in blue written characters on a white background (Fig. 313). There
are other examples of similar pieces of glass with coloured stripes of this
kind. They were prepared by laying the glass sticks which had been
produced in the furnace side by side and heating them up until they fused
together. While they were still hot and soft, they were pulled out length-
wise. This is a method of working glass which is still used in many cases
nowadays, and is called millefiori-work. (See also Figs. 215 and 217.)
Another branch of ancient Egyptian glass-work was the production of
artificial eyes, which were placed in mummies, as well as in statues
(see Fig. 218, p. 156). These artificial eyes are made of all sorts of
substances, and are in some cases compound. The iris and pupil consist
of glass ; the sclerotis (white skin of the eye) of a metal alloy, ivory,
pearl, felspar (South Kensington Museum, 5th or 6th Dynasty), marble
(Mus6e du Parc du Cinquantenaire, Brussels) or else entirely of glass
(National Museum, Stockholm, 700 b.c.) . Whether the ancient Egyptians
also made artificial eyes for living beings is not known. Ebers considers
it not improbable.
PHOENICIANS
In antiquity, as we have already mentioned, besides the Egyptians
the Phoenicians were also excellent workers in glass. They seem to have
monopolized the trade with glass, for in Syria and Judaea there was no
glass industry at all until the time of the Roman Empire. According to
Pinner, the name for glass is to be found only once in the Bible (Job xxviii.
17), that is, in one of the latest books of the Old Testament, where it is
mentioned as a precious substance, of equal value with gold. This leads
us to infer that in the ancient Jewish Kingdom the gkass derived from the
Phoenicians was very dear. The high price may be explained, if we con-
sider the technique necessary to work it, as well as the fact of its being
fragile, and the consequent difficulties of transport. In Mesopotamia,
too, glass seems to have been imported, but not to have been made on the
spot. It appears doubtful whether the famous vase of King Sargon, in
•the British Museum, which dates back to the eighth century, — it is bag-
shaped, and made of semi-transparent green glass, — is actually an Assyrian
product.
THE GREEKS
Nor did the Greeks practise the art of making and working glass to any
considerable extent ; indeed it appears doubtful whether glass was known
at all in wider circles in Greece at the, time of Aristophanes (450 to 385
B.c.) . An indication that it was very little in use is given by the fact that
it was considered quite astonishing when the Persians, as was reported.
158 GLASS
drank out of glasses. Besides this, the price of glass was as high as that
of jewels. Nevertheless, Kurt Muller brought to light, among his excava-
tions in Pylos — which produced objects of the Mycenaean period (1600 to
1200 B.c.) — a beautiful transparent blue piece of a vase, which, when
examined by Rhousopoulos, was found to be a potassium glass, which it
was difficult to fuse and was coloured blue by a compound of copper
oxide. From this Rhousopoulos concludes that glass was made in
Greece even at that time, and endeavours to support this view by quoting
other objects from the Museum at Athens.
THE GLASS-WORK OF THE ROMANS
Glass-work attained an extraordinarily high degree of excellence among
the Romans, but their knowledge is probably also of Egyptian origin,
and is presumably traced back to the glass-blowing works at Alexandria.
Among the Romans, glass became an object of common use. Even in the
first century B.c. , it displaced the gold and silver goblets from the banquets,
and even at that early time windows made of glass were to be found in the
towns of the Roman Empire, — later they were made of a considerable
size. Panes of the dimensions i ft. by 2 ft. have been preserved up to the
present day. It may well be assumed that still larger panes — probably
made by casting — ^were also prepared, for in Pompeii there are bronze
frameworks for panes, in which there are fragments of glass from sheets
that must have been about 21 in. by 28 in. in size. The apodytemm
(dressing-room) of the small hot baths of Pompeii had a very large pane,
whose dimensions were 40 in. by 28 in., and half-inch thick. The pane is
matt on the one side, and it is assumed that it was made matt by grinding
it. The pane was fixed in a frame of bronze, which turned on two pivots
attached half-way up. Otherwise, the frames of glass windows were
mostly of wood. The Egyptians also used cast glass plates for covering
their paintings. Since the art of making glass is to be traced back to the
Egyptians, it was carried out by the Romans in exactly the same way.
Above all, the process of decolorizing glass was used, and in the main
colourless glass was prepared, which was afterwards ornamented with
coloured glasses in a particular way. From the researches of Roters, who
examined fragments of colourless glass found in Saalburg, we know that
manganese was used throughout as the decolorizing substance ; so we
see that the Romans used exactly the same means as we do nowadays.
The colouring substances likewise very much resemble our own. In
general they are the same as those used for the glazes of earthenware
objects. According to Roters, ferrous oxide was used for green, cobalt
for blue, ferric oxide for reddish brown, brown-stone containing iron for
black, manganese for violet ; further, according to the analyses of K. A.
tiofmann, copper was used for red, blue and green, chromium for green,
antimony and uranium for yellow and orange. Gold was fused into the
glass mostly in the form of gold-leaf. The Roman gold glasses are vessels
which contain figures and so forth made of gold-leaf between two layers
of glass. Lines and whole pieces were scratched out of the gold-leaf,
THE GLASS-WORK OF THE ROMANS 159
so that the back ground lay bare. Heated glass, particularly glass thread,
was dipped into gold-dust before being further used. When being blown,
a drop of glass so treated or covered with gold-leaf grew to a great size, the
gold becoming very finely distributed, and giving a very beautiful efiect.
A very beautiful antique red glass flux, which was first found in Pompeii
in 1844, is the so-called ‘ Haematinum which was investigated by Petten-
kofer, and was found to be a silicate of sodium and calcium, containing
also lead, of which the brilliant lustre was due to the lead, whereas the
striking blood-red colour was due to cuprous oxide. Pettenkofer arrived
at the following values :
Per cent.
Silicon dioxide . . . . , , . , 49'90
Sodium . . . ri'54
Lime . . . ... . . . 7>2o
Magnesia . . , . . . . . . *87
Lead oxide . ... , . . . 15*51
Cuprous oxide . . . , . , . .11*03
Ferrous oxide (with traces of manganese oxide) . . 2*10
Aluminium . . . . . . . .1*20
The method of producing this excellent glass, which was called obsidian
or obsian by the Romans, is described by Pliny (XXXVI, 197) : ‘ There
is also a kind of obsian artificially coloured, for table utensils ; like-
wise a glass which is quite red — the so-called haematinum (blood-colour) —
and is not transparent.' Ibid., he writes : ‘ But the glass is fused
with light dry wood, copper and nitrum (probably soda) being added.
It is fused in furnaces uninterruptedly like ore, and gives blackish
masses of very rich colouring. In the workshop these masses are again
fused up, and are coloured.’
Pettenkofer has succeeded in reproducing this ancient obsidian glass
of the Romans by the method prescribed by Hiny, and he discovered that
the black mass first obtained acquires a blood-red colour when melted
again. Hence the expression of Pliny, tinguitur, is not to be read as
meaning ‘ it is dyed but rather that ‘ it colours
To the art of colouring glass in manifold ways, there later became
added further devices by which various effects were produced. Above all,
it was understood how to give glass objects metallic reflections. We do
not mean those peculiar reflecting surfaces, which we nowadays see on
almost all the excavated . ancient Roman or antique glasses. The
iridescence of these glasses is sometimes due to an insufficient decoloriza-
tion, but is mostly due to the fact that in the course of centuries the glass
has become decomposed through the humic acids (that is, acids in the
vegetable soil) and other substances on its surface, which covered it with
an iridescent layer. The iridescence here referred to first appeared in
late Roman times, and was brought about by applying compounds of
metals with resins to the glass, and burning them in at a dull red heat.
Red tints were obtained with copper, gold tints with silver, and blue tints
with bismuth. Franchet has succeeded in recent times in obtaining
exactly the same results by cop5?ing the Roman process. The fact that
similar iridescence can be produced by marking veiy fine lines on the
i6o GLASS
surface seems to have been already known in Greece, where no glass was
used, but transparent quartz plates were placed on a silver base, and
riffled by tracing straight lines on them ; the purpose of these was prob-
ably to produce an iridescent effect (Rhousopoulos, No. 2708 of the
Collection of the Greek National Museum).
Fig, 219. — Roman Glass-blowing
A pot from a cremation-grave, and also various other glass objects obtained by blowing. Provincial
Museum, Treves
The celebrated myrrhine vessels {murrinavasa, also pocula murnna or
mynhina) of the Rornans, which were first brought to Rome (64 b.c.) by
Pompey from the treasures of Mithridates, were made of amilky mass of glass
with red and white spots ; the milky appearance was due to an addition of
calcium phosphate, which had probably been added in the form of bone flour.
It showed vivid opalescence, and cost a great sum. According to Pliny,
the Emperor Nero paid 300 talents (about £731,000) for a myrrhine goblet. ^
Thus the Romans had at their disposal excellent raw material coloured
in manifold ways, from which they knew how to make objects by ingeni-
ously working them ; these objects still excite the greatest admiration,
on account of their technical perfection and artistic beauty. The means
they used were the blow-pipe and tongs of the glass-blower, so that the
tools were the same as those now in use ; and since the feet, handles, and
so forth, were specially added, the ancient Roman method of working glass
hardly differed from ours in the essential points. The glass was blown in
moulds which — like ours — could be opened out so as to allow the glass
object to be freed. Numerous pieces of ancient Roman glassware exhibit
^ Pliny, N. H, XXXVII, 20 ; the figures are doubtful, but a very large sum
is meant. — Trans.
THE GLASS-WORK OF THE ROMANS i6i
the seam of the mould ; this is the case not only with vessels, but also
with the figures of animals and so on. To this general method of working
glass, there are also special branches, of which we must mention, above all,
Fig. 220. — Roman Flasks in Glass. Blown and ornamented
Provincial Museum, Trfeves
Fig. 221.— Roman dicUreta Vessels (collection of Rath)
Berlin, Altes Museum, Antiquarium
the serpentine windings, in which all manner of ornaments and twisted
lines and other designs were applied to the vessels, in such a way that the
glass thread — often coloured—-was fused onto the corresponding windings
GLASS
of the object. The late Roman vessels called diatreta were made by melt-
ing on the glass threads ; they were covered with a raised network of such
threads. These threads do not, however, touch the vessel all along their
length, but only at particular points. How they were made is not known ;
some believe that the network was ground out of the thick glass. How-
ever, coloured and sometimes also uncoloured drops of glass of the most
varied size were dropped on to the glass vessel. In this way trinkets
arose, which have again become the fashion with us.
Engraving on glass was developed to a particular degree in the Roman
glass-works. At first, simple ornamental lines were engraved into the
glass, and later, whole scenes
were drawn on it. These
engravings were effected by
means of grinding wheels.
Afterwards, flashed glass was
produced by covering one
kind of glass with glass of a
different colour. When en-
gravings were then also cut
out of the upper glass, so
that the lower layer came to
view, beautiful effects arose,
as for example in the famous
Portland Vase, which till
recently was in the British
Museum ; in it a blue back-
ground is covered with a
white opaque glass one-fifth
inch thick, on which artistic
designs have been engraved.
We must here just touch
on some special points which
are closely connected with
glass-making. Firstly, we
must make reference to the
often repeated story of un-
breakable glass, which plays
a part among various
ancient writers. According to the narration of Pliny (XXXVI, 195), a
man is supposed to have come to the Emperor Tiberius, and to have
shown him a flexible glass. The Emperor had his workshop destroyed in
order that this glass should not lower the value of metals. Petronius
likewise reports in his Dinner of Trimalchio of an Emperor to whom a
man is supposed to have presented a glass vessel which did not break when
it was thrown on the ground. The Emperor had this man executed, in
order that gold and silver should not lose their value through the inven-
tion ! This story is often repeated in this form, indeed so often that we
feel constrained to believe that there is some element of truth in it. In
Fig. 222. — Roman Pane of Glass with an engraved
representation of a chariot race in a circus
Provincial Museum, Trdves
THE GLASS-WORK OF THE ROMANS
163
spite of all efforts to explain it, as for example those of Lippmann, Rath-
gen, and so forth, it has not been possible for us to trace back the tale of
the malleable or unbreakable glass to any ancient art that has in the
meantime become known to usT
A further question which is connected with glass, is whether the
Romans knew of glass mirrors and spectacles. The first question is
without doubt to be answered in the affirmative, and we do not need even
to support the remark by reference to Pliny, who states that glass, and
particularly black mirrors, were invented at Sidon. Fragments of glass
mirrors have been found in the Roman camp at Saalburg, as well as in
other places, for example
at Ratisbon (Regensburg)
and so forth. They were
made by pasting thin
leaves of gold, silver, cop-
per or tin as a backing to
the glass. As the glass
was not polished, it was
not very smooth, and so
the mirrors probably gave
distorted images. But in
the Roman and Gallic
tombs at Reims, mirrors
have also been found
which date back to the
third or fourth century
A.D., which were presum-
ably made by a quite
different method. These
mirrors resembled watch-
glasses, that is, they were
curved and round pieces
of glass, two inches or one
inch and a fifth in diameter, which had lead pasted on the back. The
curved glass surface, which was perhaps cut out of a glass balloon,
was at any rate first warmed in order to avoid cracking, and the lead
was then poured in. The mirror of course likewise gave a diminished
and distorted image.
Spectacles were not known in antiquity ; indeed, the effects of concave
and convex glass lenses had not apparently been observed, or they were
not made use of. The only report derived from antiquity concerning the
use of an arrangement resembling spectacles, comes from Pliny, who
relates that the Emperor Nero used a polished emerald to observe the
contests of the gladiators. From this it has been concluded that the
Emperor Nero was short-sighted, and that he used a sort of lorgnon or
monocle. ' Lenses ’ which have been found (in the ruins of Tyre, a
^ A method of making elastic glass has recently been discovered in Vienna, —
H. L. B.
Fig. 2Z3. — Milleliori Dish (Roman)
Green and white flowers, with red cups. Berlin, Altcs Museum,
Antiquariuni
GLASS
164
grave at Nola, Pompeii, Trdy, and so forth) served as ornaments for
leather belts and similar objects, but not as magnifying glasses. On the
other hand, the Greeks and the Romans were familiar with the magnifying
power of glass ‘ spheres ’ (or glass globes filled with water, used by shoe-
makers for concentrating the lamplight).
ARTIFICIAL STONES
A particular branch of the ancient glass industry was the production
of artificial gems, which flourished at a very early date. In ancient
Egypt we sometimes find in the jewellery buried with kings genuine stones
mixed with artificial stones made of coloured glass fluxes. This need not
lead us to think that a fraud was intended ; as at that time the physical
and chemical processes, which later allowed natural and artificial stones
to be differentiated, were not yet known, a glass flux which accidentally
was particularly beautifully coloured, may have been mistaken for a
precious stone. It is true that later the making of artificial stones
developed into a particular art, for which there are numerous rules ; for
example, the ‘ new Stockholm Papyrus ’, which dates back to the third
century, contains quite a number, which very often seem of little value.
In .Rome, too, Seneca reports that there were whole factories for making
artificial stones. In Egypt these, false stones were produced by soaking
minerals that were of a leafy or porous constitution, above all pyrites and
topaz, with coloured solutions, which were then absorbed ; whereas in
Rome abundant use seems to have been made of the property of lead to
impart to glass a high refrangibility. Stained glass fluxes were produced,
whose colours were brought about by the ingredients already mentioned
above, and lead or lead compounds were added in abundance. A glass
flux was then obtained which exhibited two of the most important
properties of the genuine stone, namely the beautiful colour and the high
refractive power. The hardness of these artificial stones was, just like that
of the Strass or imitation diamond nowadays, made in the same way,
much less than the genuine stone, but this was difficult to prove, owing to
lack of appropriate methods of investigation. How little was known
about these methods of investigation is clear from the fact that Pliny
could say no more about hardness tests than that ‘ the diamond
scratches all stones, genuine ones and false ones.' For the rest, according
to researches of Rhousopoulos in Greece, it appears that even in pre-
Mycenaean times artificial pearls were made, namely by melting together
lime, magnesia and silica ; these were likewise coloured. Thus the
imitation of precious natural products seems to be a very ancient art.
SPINNING AND WEAVING (YARNS
AND TEXTILES)
GENERAL REMARKS
C oncerning the textile arts of antiquity, that is, the production
of yarns and textiles, we are in a curious position. We read
everywhere of the beautiful robes which were at that time made,
but nowhere do we find clear descriptions as to the actual process, as to
what devices were used, as to how the raw materials and the finished
textiles were treated, and so forth. Taken all in all, the textile indu-stry
must have reached a high standard and flourished among .all peoples of
antiquity. Even the Old Testament describes the precious hangings of
the Tabernacle of the Lord (Exodus xxvi.), which were skilfully made and
artivStically executed. Homer tells us of the masterly way in which the
Grecian women spun and wove ; Helen of Troy knows no better way of
giving expression to her interest in the battles between the Greeks and
the Trojans, than by representing the mon her loom in richly coloured
pictures. In Egypt, as well as among the peoples of the Orient, gorgeous
robes were worn, and Greek vases and wall pictures at Pompeii bear
witness to artistic weaving. In spite of all this, however, the secrets of
the actual art are fairly well preserved from us. From all these descrip-
tions and representations, we get acquainted only with the products.
Nevertheless, laborious investigation has succeeded in finding out at least
a few details of the textile arts of antiquity, so that we at least get a
glimpse of them, even if we cannot get an unbroken view.
SILK
The material about whose extraction and working we are best informed
is silk, which however w'as introduced into Europe fairly late. The
origins of silk culture are to be sought in China, where it was a home-
industry as early as 3000 b.c. The historical work Shu-king reports
of that time that Shon-wung, the successor of the Emperor Fu-Iii, made
efforts to spread the cultivation of mulberry trees and the breeding of
silkworms, as widely as possible, in order to encourage the art of making
fishing-lines, vhich were drawn from the intestinal contents of the worms.
These threads also served as strings for musical instruments. The actual
unwinding of the cocoon, such as is nowadays practised, is supposed to
have been introduced by the "lady of Si-Ling,'’ the wdfe of Huang-ti ;
according to other reports it was her daughter Liu Siuin the year 2698 b.c.
165
i66 SPINNING AND WEAVING (YARNS AND TEXTILES)
While observing a silkworm, she conceived the idea of re-tracing the
winding process carried out by the worm and then using it for weaving.
In grateful commemoration of this invention, which was so important
for Chinese civilization, the Empress was elevated to the rank of a goddess.
For twenty centuries, the silk industry then flourished exclusively in the
province of Shantung, where the silk was not onlyproduced but also dyed.
In the ancient Chinese textile industry, silk was obtained and worked on
the whole just as we are accustomed to do nowadays. Above all, the
cocoons were wound off before the moths had escaped, which was quite in
contrast with the processes among the other peoples of Eastern Asia, where
later, when the silk industry had spread from China, the moths were first
allowed to escape, and the silk thread was then unravelled from the
cocoon. On this account, the separate parts of the twisted threads of
course became shorter, and consequently less durable. After the silk
thread had been unwound, it was scoured, that is, the gum was boiled off
from it, for which purpose probably a mixture of plant- ash and oil was
used. This was followed by dyeing. The silk was ornamented in various
ways, partly by painting, partly by embroidering, but later also by
weaving in all sorts of ornaments. As among almost all peoples of
antiquity, so also among the Chinese, gold threads were woven into the
material, indeed even birds’ feathers. A quite particular art developed,
which consisted in producing a sort of ‘half silk ’, which was obtained by
making the warp, around which the weaving was effected, out of linen,
into which silken threads were then interwoven in such a way that these
warp threads became covered. This woven material then had the
appearance of pure silk.
In the fourth century a.d. the silk industry spread from China into
Japan, after it had previously passed over into India. The Indians
indeed had their own silk industry before, in which — as already men-
tioned — the cocoon was not killed — for religious reasons. The moth was
allowed to escape, and the silk was then wound off. In this way, a sort
of ‘ wild silk ’ was produced, an inferior product, which was so different
from Chinese silk, that when Chinese silk was introduced into India, the
Indians had no idea that this wonderfully lustrous textile could be obtained
from the same animal as that from which the Indian silk goods were
derived. The introduction of Chinese silk into India probably occurred
about the third century B.c. Among all other peoples, silk appeared
at a rather late date, and although there are certain passages in Herod-
otus, in the Bible, and so forth, treating of textiles, which suggest silk,
there may be opposed to such assumptions that only the external appear-
ance of this textile is described in these passages, and that there is not a
single datum which allows us to draw inferences about its chemical or
physical constitution. Nor has it been possible to ascertain when silk
came to Europe. Although silk materials are mentioned among the booty
of Alexander the Great in his Persian campaign (331 b.c.), we cannot
assert definitely any better than before whether it is really silk that is
meant. We have more trustworthy data from Pliny and Aristotle, who
mention that the first Chinese textiles that appeared were unravelled,
OTHER RAW MATERIALS AND THEIR EXTRACTION 167
and that the threads so obtained were split; in order to increase their
number. They were then woven into finer, almost transparent, tissue.
This is a proof of the great value of silk at that time, which in Caligula’s
reign was as dear as gold. A pound of purple silk at that time cost about
£100. At the time of the Persian wars, when there was a lack of raw
materials, the price of a pound of silk rose to ;^35o, and that of purple silk
to almost four times this amount.
OTHER RAW MATERIALS AND THEIR EXTRACTION
If we disregard silk — as we know so little about when it was first
worked by the different peoples of antiquity — ^we get approximately the
following picture of the fabrics used in the textile industry. All yarns and
textiles used in ancient Egypt and Babylon consisted solely of linen,
cotton, wool, as well as ‘ byssos ’ or ' shell silk ’, which was obtained
from a river shell (see below). Cotton first appears around a.d. 500
in Upper Egypt, and seems to have been introduced from Persia. The
Assyrians and Babylonians also made use of cotton, besides wool. More-
over, the hairs of certain species of goat were used ; among many Oriental
peoples, yarns were made from this hair. In India there arose in this way
the industry of Kashmir (Cashmere) shawls at a very early date. Jute
was also cultivated in India.
The Greeks and Romans presumably were at first acquainted only with
flax, to which there soon was added sheep's wool. Many investigators,
however (including Bltimner) , consider wool to be the older material. In
the fifth century b.c. they became acquainted with cotton. Further,
bombykia, probably a sort of wild silk, was introduced from Kos before
real silk appeared. It probably resembled wild Indian silk, and was
derived from the wild silk moth Bombyx Otus. It served for making the
famous Coan robes, mostly coloured with purple and worn by elegant
Roman women. According to unconfirmed reports (see above) , Chinese silk
was then supposed to have come into being at the end of the first or at the
beginning of the second century b.c. At any rate, Tacitus [Annal. II,
33) writes of the luxurious display that was made of the silk textiles that
entered Rome with the war booty. The Germanic tribes chiefly culti-
vated flax. They further attired themselves in animal skins, and Tacitus
{Germania 17) reports that the women often wore linen garments decorated
with purple stripes. For the rest, we must again emphasize that all
ancient waiters are fairly untrustworthy in their remarks about the
textile industry. The terms for the different materials are confused, and
are not always correctly translated. For example, it has not been possible
to determine whether silk was known to the Jews. The word ‘ schesch ’
which occurs in Exodus and is translated by Luther as silk, was, according
to the researches of Forster [De Bysso Antiquorum, page 8) probably
only fine linen. Further, the name ‘ byssos ’ ^ seems to have denoted
sometimes shell silk, and sometimes cotton,
1 Concerning the meaning of see the detailed data in Pauly-Wissowa, Real-
Emyklopadie der klassischen Alteriams-wissenschaft, Stuttgart, 1899, Vol. Ill,
Column 1108-1114.
iG 8 SrL\NING AND WEAVING (YARNS AND TEXTILES)
What confusion there is among the different terms may be illustrated
by the following example ; Herodotus (Book 3) asserts that ‘ bombykia ' 1
is derived from the wool of a wild tree in India ; Theophrastus regards
silk as the product of a plant ; Strabo (Book 15) states that it is derived
from the red bark of a tree ; Servius confuses silk with wool ; Pliny
(XI, 22) relates that on the island of Cos, the blossoms of the cypress that
have been struck down by rain become transformed into silkworms ;
Ammianus (xxiii, 6, 67) speaks even in the fourth century a.d. of a fine
wool-like substance which comes from the leaves of a tree ; and so forth.
Thus the textile industry of the ancients presents an almost insoluble
mystery for the technical invsetigator, at least so far as the literature is
concerned. To this there is to be added the fact that the method of
working up these manifold raw materials is nowhere described, probably
for the reason that it was in general practised at home, and because the
ancient writers for that reason assumed that the details were known.
They therefore preferred to write of other more interesting things.
So far as any assertions can be made at all or conjectures can be
Justified from the finds available, we may make the following remarks about
the technical working-up of the raw material.
Wool was at first probably obtained, not by shearing the animals,
but by pulling out the hairs, a method that persisted to some degree as
late as in Pliny's time (Pliny, VII, 191). The shears were used later,
probably first by the Romans, by whom this method was then spread
among other peoples. They had the form of the shears nowadays used for
shearing sheep, but were larger and clumsier. The wool was then washed
(see below), dried, and beaten, in order to remove impurities that were
still clinging to it, and then pulled apart — ^which must have been done by
hand— and combed. In that way, the product which we nowadays call
‘ top or sliver ' was produced. This was then spun and woven, after
having been previously coloured when circumstances demanded it.
Flax, which was grown in great quantities in Egypt as early as the
year 2500 b.c., and which was even earlier worked in the Orient, served
for making linen, which was a universally used material in Egypt, whereas
in Homer’s time it was w'orn in Greece only by the eltte. In Rome, too,
it was at first used as the dress of the rich, until it later became univer-
sally worn. The statement of Tacitus {Germania 17) that among the
ancient Germans the woman w’-as more often dressed in linen garments than
themm||g|M|Kus to conclude that here too linen was dearer than animal
was also grown in later times, but it remained
— as we can ganner which resembles that still in use to-day
antiquity and ^^^^everf excavations among almost all peoples of
The stalks were, ^ of weedW by the report of Pliny (XIX, 16-18).
In this way all sorted ouW nowadays, but were pulled out.
particularly cate' Indian^
^ . TT-^T -n Hubner found, bv microscooicallv
xTHsisthe/e^r.-H.L.B.
after the secoh-d >
^r Hiibner found, by microscopically
T^^kobtained from a .shrub which dies down .
%
SPINNING i6g
examining two mummies of the 12th Dynasty (about 2500 B.c.), that the
material consisted exclusively of linen. Between its threads, however,
there were fibres of China-grass, nettles, and other plants which had
grown in between the flax. The stems were then soaked for several
weeks in water, by means of weights, so that the fibres became
loosened from the stem. This was followed by drying in the sun, further
drying on hot stones, and beating with clubs. For breaking up the
flax wood seems to have been used, which was provided with diagonal
strips also of wood. In this way flax fibres were obtained, which were
then combed. After the fibres had been loosened by the wood they were
laid parallel by means of combing (‘ hackling ’), and the too short threads
(oakum) were removed, and the spinning could begin. The woven linen
was then beaten by means of sticks — a sort of milling.
Concerning the preparation of cotton, strictly speaking we know
nothing at all. It seems to have been obtained from various plants ;
at any rate Strabo mentions materials which were produced from a nut
that occurs in Egypt, the contents of which were suitable for spinning
and weaving. This can therefore refer only to cotton. That this was
actually used, is supported, not only by various excavations, but also
by further data of occasional writers, whom we mentioned above, and
whose statements appear to mean that what was alleged to be ‘ silk ’ was
obtained from the bark of trees. This probably also refers to the extrac-
tion of cotton. Herodotus distinguishes carefully between linen and
cotton. Concerning the mail-shirt of King Amasis he relates (III, 37) :
‘ This is made of linen, and many pictures are woven into it, and it is
adorned with gold and cotton.’
SPINNING
The fibre which was obtained in the manner just mentioned, no matter
whether it consisted of wool, flax, hemp or cotton, was next spun, in order
to produce the thread adapted to weaving. Spinning was probably carried
out among all ancient peoples according to the same method ; at least
excavations and pictorial representations lead to this conclusion.
The spinning whorl, a disc provided with a round hole and often
ornamented, is everywhere used for spinning. It is made of all sorts
of materials, sometimes of bone, sometimes of stone or glass, or of
various metals. The whorl has been used since the earliest times ;
it is found among the ancient peoples of Asia as well as among the
Egyptians and the Trojans, as the excavations of Schliemann have
shown. Spinning and weaving, these important branches of the textile
craft of antiquity, were exclusively domestic arts, and, with rare excep-
tions, the affair of women. In many cases, the whorl used by a woman
in her lifetime was buried with her. Spinning was carried out in much the
same way as nowadays in the South of Italy, in Greece, and in other coun-
tries along the Mediterranean. The combed fibres that are to be spun are
placed on a distaff mostly made from cane, which the women set up
next to themselves in their homes. When they went out, or chatted in
front of their doors while they were spinning, they took with them a distaff
F I G . 225. — Egyptian Fig. 226. — Roman Spin-
Spindle, with an attached die with Whorl. Found
Whorl at Mainz
From a grave. Meiduni. Of Museum of Antiquities of the
wood. Length 6 in. Berlin City of Mainz
Museum, Egyptian Department
170 SPINNING AND WEAVING (YARNS AND TEXTILES)
which they could thrust through their belts. The whorl was then placed
on the spindle. This spindle was a round rod of wood, metal, or bone,
10 to 14 in. long. Since wood rots, many whorls have been preserved
but very few spindles, and these were then of metal or bone. But we
know them from pictorial representations. Further, metal spindles are
known. The wood spindle carries a notch at the top, whereas the metal
spindle is mostly provided with a hook. The woman who is spinning
draws down some of the raw material from the distaff, and jams it in the
incision of the spindle, or fastens it to the metal spindle by the hook. She
Fig. 224. — Egyptian Dis-
taff for Spinning
(Made of the straw of Durra or
Turkey millet.) Length loj in.
Berlin Museum, Egyptian De-
partment
then turns the spindle with a skilful movement of her hand, which gives
the whorl its necessary momentum to keep up the motion a little longer
than would be the case otherwise, and throws it into the air. Hanging
by the thread, the spindle continues to turn, winding up the thread. As
soon as the thread is long enough, the spindle dances on the stone floor of
the house, where it continues merrily to turn during the whole process of
spinning. The finished thread is wound up on the spindle (see also Catullus,
LXIV, 31 1 — ^where the process is described in verse). The whole process
is still carried out unchanged in form nowadays in certain parts of Southern
Italy, for example in the neighbourhood of Naples.
The spinning was not always carried out in this popular way. There
w^ere also derived methods. Thus a picture on a Grecian (Attic) vase of
SPINNING
171
the fifth century B.c., which is in the Berlin Museum, allows us to see that
the combing, or the other raw material, was sometimes simply taken up
in the left hand, and laid across the thigh and forearm (Fig. 227). The
naked right leg was then sup-
ported on, and firmly held
against, a wooden frame-
work. The right hand
draws out the thread and
compresses it, by rubbing
and turning it on the leg.
The finished thread falls into
a work-basket. Perhaps
this process served only to
prepare a somewhat coarse
‘ rough thread ’, which was
then placed on the distaff,
in order to be spun into
‘ fine thread ’. Instead of
the thigh, a special vessel
was often used in Greece
for milling Ihe thread; it
was a clay pipe, which was
supported over both thighs,
the legs being crossed.
This pipe, called enivrftqov
or livog, which has the form of one half of a pipe 10 to 12 in. long, and closed
in front by a plate, is often beautifully decorated with paintings (Fig. 228).
After the spinning, the thread was further worked, and sometimes indeed
it underwent various kinds of preliminary treatment. Thus it was
Fig. 228 . — Svos (spindle)
Athens, National Museum
strengthened by twisting together, several single threads. Herodotus
(III, 47) relates the following about the mail-.shirt of Amasis, which we
have already mentioned : * What excites our wonder in it, however, is
every single thread ; for the threads are not coarse, and yet each one con-
sists of 360 single threads, which can all be distinguished.' Further, gold
172 SPINNING AND WEAVING (YARNS AND TEXl'lLES)
thread was spun into these threads, for the gold-workers of antiquity were
able to draw out this metal into very fine wire. In this way garments
threaded with gold were obtained (Herodotus, IX, 8o). Asbestos threads
also seem to have been added to the ordinary threads, in order to obtain
fireproof garments, and sometimes asbestos was even used in the pure
state in which it was derived from Germania and Britain.
WORKING-UP OF THE THREAD
The further treatment of the thread was performed by plaiting or
knitting it, and further by knotting, embroidering and weaving it. The
first-mentioned methods of working require no further explanation.
On the other hand, weaving is of particular interest to us, for, as we know,
through this branch of industry most splendid carpets were made — in
addition to those that were knotted— and gorgeous figured garments as
well as all the various kinds of textiles required in the household. Weav-
ing too was a work for women and for the home, and was carried out by
means of a loom which fully deserves to be called primitive. Although
the looms made of wood are no longer preserved, we can recognize them
from pictures on vases, for example on some that date back to the year
500 B.c. and were excavated in Thebes (in the British Museum in London)
(^Fig. 231).
The ancient loom— probably among all peoples — consisted of two
vertical wooden stakes, which were at first simply thrust into the earth,
but were later fastened on to a horizontal bar. They were likewise united
at the top by means of a bar, to which the threads of the warp
were attached. To keep them tightly stretched, each single thread of the
warp was weighted by means of a little ball of clay or of metal, called
‘ weaver’s weight ’ (loom weight). In some cases perhaps several of
these threads were tied to one such hall, or a stone, and united below.
Looms in which the weaving was carried out from below upwards (see
below) have a beam instead of the stones (Fig. 230). In the middle of the
loom, there are two horizontal rods (the canons), which served to separate
the threads of the warp into a front and a back row, so that the rows pass
in turn in front of and behind the thread of the woof. Of course this
process had to be alternated after every throw of the woof. The picture
on the vase mentioned (Fig. 231) allows us to see clearly in the vertical
stake on the left a gap or notch (or something similar) by which the
alternation was perhaps made possible. How it actually took place is not
clear. There is perhaps some truth in the conjecture that the rods were
simply pushed in and drawn out from the side, and so produced the alter-
nation. Before the alternating devices were applied for the threads of the
warp, perhaps the method used was to hold the two rows apart by fasten-
ing them on two beams, and then a shuttle or a bobbin was sent around
each thread in turn, once behind and once in front — certainly a laborious
process. The shuttle probably consisted originally of a rod provided at
the top and bottom with notches, on which the threads of the woof were
wound. The fact that bobbins were also used in place of the rods, on
WORKING-UP OF THE THREAD 173
which the thread was simply wound, is clear from the pictures on vases
which have been preserved. The shuttles of later times (see Fig. 232)
Fig. 229.— Penelope’s Loom (picture on a Greek vase from Chiusi). Each thread is
weighted by means of a loom weight
The different heights of these weights show that half of the threails are hanging down behind the cross-bars. The
position of the cross-bars with respect to the threads is not clearly recognizable. Bucher {III, 337) assumes that the
warp-beam also served as the cloth-beam, and that the weaving was conducted from below upwards. Above is the
finished woven fabric. On the topmost horizontal bar, the author suggests that there are shuttles, some empty and
some cai-ryJng their full complement of thread. The figures in the finished fabric are embroidered, as Bliimner is i>rob-
ably correct in assuming, for they could not have been produced by weaving on this loom
resemble those of the present day. They are made of wood or bone,
pointed in front and provided with a handle at the back ; they were
means of loom weights, but by a hori-
zontal bar. Oi! the riglit and left
below, there is a forked end, which is
worked by fool ; by treading these
down alternately, the sheds or inter-
vals between the warp-threads are pro-
duced. In the hands of the women
weaving, we see the weaver’s reed or
slay. Below is the finished woven
fabric. Thus the weaving is effected
from below, upwards (see also page
175). Mural painting in Beni Hasan
hollowed out, and possessed two apertures or slits for fastening the thread.
The shuttle was not two-sided, that is, provided with two points — ^which
I'lG. 230. — Egyptian Loom
174 SPINNING AND WEAVING (YARNS AND TEXTILES)
would have given it symmetry, — so that it could not simply be thrown to
and fro ; it had to be turned round each time, so that the point came in
the direction of throw. The thread of the woof which was drawn through
was then energetically projected by means of a flat piece of wood into
the angle formed by the threads of the warp, in order to give the fabric the
necessary firmness.
In order to drive together the threads, use was made at first probably
in all cases of the simple bar called the batten [andOf], spatha) (see Fig.
233 centre) , which was later provided with teeth, so that it became a
slay which had the shape of a comb {pit dig, pecten). The slay is first
met with among the Egyptians, either in the true form of a comb (Fig. 233,
above and below), or in that of a
grate (Fig. 234). The slays of the
first sort were made of wood, the
surface to which the teeth were
attached being slanted off in order
to moderate the blow against the
chain of threads, and prevent their
becoming destroyed. The grate-
shaped slay (Fig. 234), which is probably of Byzantine origin, consists
of a frame covered with leather, carrying teeth made of thin flat pieces
of wood.
In order to weave large fabrics there was probably used, instead of
the topmost horizontal bar, a roller on the loom, on which the finished
Fig. 332. — Weaver’s Shuttle made of
Bone. Found at Mainz
Altertuinsmiiseuiu dcr Stadt Mainz
Fig. 233. — Egyptian Weaver’s Batten (in the middle) and two Slays of Wood
Berlin Museum, Egyptian Department
piece was rolled up. According to a passage in Homer {Iliad, XXIII,
760 ei seq.), it seems probable that cords were tied to the first, third, and
fifth, etc. , thread, in order to raise them for passing through the shuttle, that
is in order to form a shed, to use the technical expression.^ But this is
known with as little certainty as so many other details of the making of
textiles in antiquity, about which, as mentioned at the beginning, we are
very largely restricted to making conjectures. , Weaving was carried out,
according to the construction of the loom, either in the standing or in
1 This much- discussed passage is to be translated as follows, according to
Bliimner : ‘ The cane rod remains near the chest of the weaver, when she draws
it in order to pass through the bobbin.’
WORKING-UP OF THE THREAD
175
the sitting (or crouching) posture, and either from above downwards, or
from below upwards.
Fig. 234. — Grate-shaped Slay (used in Egypt, of Byzantine origin). Length 2 ft., width
4 in, "
Berlin Muse\«n, Egyptian Department
Herodotus writes (II, 35) : ‘ The men sit at home and weave ;
other people weave by inserting the threads of
the woof from above ; but the Egyptians insert
them from below ’ (see Fig. 230). The result
of the weaving in the case of the simple
looms of antiquity was the so-called canvas-
weaving, which represents a chessboard pat-
tern on account of the regular crossing of the
threads. By this process there were produced in
Egypt, as is proved by remnants that have
been preserved, examples of weaving . which are
as fine as the finest veils of the present day.
The embroidering mentioned under Fig. 229
probably hardly differed at all in its manner
of execution from that of the present day. The
fact that the embroidery frame was also used
is evident from the various pictures that have
been preserved (Fig. 235).
THE CLEANING OF TEXTILES
The process of weaving was followed by that of cleaning, which was
necessary in particular whenever the woven materials were later to be
dyed. At first, soap wort or fuller’s herb was used for cleaning materials ;
Dioscorides makes particular mention of its being used for washing
cloths and dresses. Both among the Oriental peoples, and among the
Greeks and Romans, the fuller’s herb that was in general use was probably
gypsophila stmthium, whose root still serves nowadays in the East for
washing shawls, and is exported to our countries under the name of soap
root. That it w£is used by the peoples of the Mediterranean, may be
inferred from the circumstance that Pliny mentions it under the name
struthion, and relates that it served for removing the fat from wool.
In India, the roots and crushed fruits of various kinds of soap-tree
[Sapindus emargmata, maduriensis, saponarius, senegalensis) were used.
Fig, 235. — A Woman
embroidering by means
of Embroidering Frame
176 SPINNING AND WEAVING (YARNS AND TEXTILES)
Moreover, urine, which these washers or millers, who weTe ih.&fulloms of the
Romans, collected in pitchers which had been placed for use at the street
corners, served as a cleansing material, after it had become decomposed ; ^
in consequence of its content of ammonia, it removed fat and also acted
as a cleansing agent. The cleansing action was further increased owing
to the fat becoming partly saponified by the ammonia, that is, soap was
formed. Of the inorganic bodies which served to cleanse materials, we
must mention raw potash,, which was obtained by lixiviating the ashes of
various plants. Likewise, the residue from the evaporation of waters
from several Egyptian lakes in which soda occurred naturally, which is
called nieiie?' in the Bible, was also used.
The cleansing of the materials was advanced a further stage by com-
bining a mechanical process with the chemical treatment effected by soap
root, potashes and so forth. This mechanical process was at first very
simple. From Egyptian pictures it is evident that the materials were
placed on an inclined plane, of which the lower end sometimes dipped into
the washing vessel, and they were then beaten with apparently rather
heavy stones. The wall paintings of Civita, as well as the excavations
of Pompeii, make it clear that among the Romans the workman stood
in a wide vessel filled with the cleansing lye, and trod on the materials
in the vessel with his feet, and partly milled them with his hands (Fig,
236). As the Indians still cleanse materials mechanically by beating
them with stones and wooden hammers, it may be assumed that the
process was no different in ancient times.
THE DYEING OF TEXTILES
Chemical and mechanical cleaning was followed by dyeing. This
procers was applied either to the thread, or — perhaps less often — to the
finished material. Dyeing was effected either directly, by placing the
materials in the dyeing solution, or by the method of so-called corrosive
staining, which Pliny (XXXV, 150) describes in detail as practised among
the Egyptians. It must be remarked parenthetically that he bases his
description on Herodotus, who knew the process from personal obser-
vation, and can therefore be regarded as trustworthy in this matter.
Pliny reports :
' In Egypt, garments are dyed according to a remarkable process. They are
first cleaned, then soaked, not in dye, but in various substances that absorb dye ;
these substances do not at first show in the materials, but when the materials have
been dipped into the dyeing tun, they can be removed after being stiri ed about,
completely dyed ; and the most wonderful thing about this is that although the tun
contains only one kind of dye, the materials suddenly appear dyed in various colours,
according to the nature of the dye-absorbing substances used ; and these colours
arenot only resistant to washing, but the materials so dyed actually wear better.’
For the rest, the use of mordants in dyeing was also known in other
connections. For instance, in purple dyeing, an alum mordant was used ;
further, tartar appears to have been used for fixing the dye to the fibre.
Perhaps lacquer was also used in dyeing ; in the baths of Titus, red
1 Urine was largely used in England up to forty years ago for scouring cloth.
It produced a full soft handle in the fabric. — H. L. B.
MILLING AND MAKING CLOTH
177
colours have been found, which, on examination by the English chemist
Davy, proved themselves to be madder lacquer containing aluminium
salts. (Concerning the colours used in dyeing, see the section on Dyes,
where further details regarding the production of colours are given so far
as is necessary.)
MILLING AND MAKING CLOTH
The production of yarns and textiles as above described, was probably
that which predominated universally over a long period. Later (it is not
known when) the textile industry advanced a further stage, when the
milling of textiles was introduced, which was supposed to have been
invented by a certain Nikias in Megara. The purpose of milling is to
unite closely the comparatively loose fibres of the woven material, so
that cloth is produced from them. The process brought about by milling
is felting. This converts the texture into cloth. As already mentioned
several times, the woven
materials are sometimes beaten,
as well as trodden on, and milled
* by hand.
We must regard this process
as differing from that of wash-
ing only in the length of time
required, and in the energy ex-
pended. When washing alone
was done, one worked for only a
short time, and with less expendi-
ture of work ; in the case of
milling, more power was used,
and the process was continued
until its aim — the production of felt — ^was achieved. The apparatus
used for both purposes was probably fairly similar ; it consisted of
troughs or pits situated in the vicinity of flowing water. The material
was trodden on in the manner already described in the washing process,
while soda was added [vIxqov, Latin niirum, which, on account of its
resemblance to saltpetre, is often confused with it by the ancients),' —
or else decomposed urine, or clayey substances, which easily combined
with fat. There was even a fuller’s earth, known as ‘ Kimolian ’,
because obtained from the island of Kimolos, one of the Cyclades in the
Aegean Sea. Such earth was also brought to Greece and Rome from
Samos and other places. The methods and the means were probably
the same among most peoples of antiquity, namely, when the material had
been sufficiently milled, it was subjected to washing and beating, which
completed the process of felting (we here foUow Bliimner’s view). As is
still done nowadays, the felted material then had its surface dressed, for
which purpose thistles were used, fixed in appropriate implements with
handles (Figs. 237 and 238).
In the textile industry these thistles are now called fuller’s thistles or
Mural painting from the Fullonica in Pompeii
178 SPINNING AND WEAVING (YARNS AND TEXTILES)
teazles. They were mounted in a framework and brushed up and down
over the stretched cloths (Fig. 238) . The prickles of the hedgehog were used
Fig. 237. — Pieces of Cloth hung up to
dry, and the mounting or cleaning of
the thistles to be used for dressing
the Cloth
Mural painting from the Fulloiiica in Pompeii
for the same purpose, perhaps
also metal combs, provided
with sharp teeth, or brushes.
The wool fibres scratched off
Fig. 238. — Dressing the Cloth
The man on the right is carrying a frame used for bleaching
by means of sulphurous vapours (see page 175), and a vessel
with a handle, in which perhaps the sulphur used was ignited.
On top, we see what is probably a domestic pet in the shape
of an owl, accidentally immortalized by the painter. Mural
painting from the Fullonica in Pompeii
in this way were carefully collected and were a favourite means for
stuffing cushions.
BLEACHING AND PRESSING 179
the Romans : its importance and special peculiarities made it necessary
to adapt buildings to its purposes. In this way, factories for milling cloth
arose, in part after the manner of our present-day factories, as regards
their technical equipment. The milling factory (Fullonica) in Pompeii,
(Fig. 239) in the Street of Mercury consists of four shops (i, 3, 5, 6), which,
as was mostly the case with Roman houses (see the Section on Buildings,
p. 321) had no communication with the house. But the shops i and 3
have each a backroom, 2 and 4. The back rooms of 5 and 6 were on the
first floor ; 8 is the vestibule ; 7 is a sort of porter’s room ; 10 is the '
atrium, in the middle of which a shed built on pillars, having a fountain ( 5 )
playing in front of it, was situated. On the pillar a there is the paint-
i ing partly reproduced here. Room 14 was probably the drying room,
' whereas 22 and 23 represent the workshop. In 22 the washed materials
were probably dressed ; in 23 the press (see below) appears to have ;
stood. The dyeing may have been carried out in the four troughs 26 ;
the two outside troughs are higher than the two middle ones, which are of
equal height and connected with each other, so that the solution flowed
into them from the outer troughs. The troughs are of varying depths,
the first being 46 in. deep, the last 20 in. deep. 28 is a water basin, which
presumably served for rinsing the milled material. In room 27, which |
was divided into six cells, which are also clearly recognizable in Fig. 236, ;
the pieces of cloth were milled by means of treading. Room 30, in which ;
there were found a bath and stone table as well as great quantities of
soap (?),^ was the washing room, in which the cloth was beaten on the
stone table by means of a wooden beater. The other rooms are private
chambers. Among them we must mention in particular room 19, which i
contained a bakery. I
BLEACHING AND PRESSING [
In spite of the thorough treatment to which the finished cloth had ^
been subjected, it had not yet the brilliant white colour that was desired,
and that was prescribed among some peoples for certain garments, such
as those of priests. In the case of white cloth, therefore, and perhaps
! also of others that were properly dyed, a bleaching process was next
^ applied. Bleaching on grass was unknown in ancient times ; bleaching
I was effected by using sulphurous fumes. For this purpose, a cane frame-
work resembling a round bird-cage or a crinoline was used, which
was placed on the ground (Fig. 238). The cloth was spread over this i
framework so as to cover it completely, and a pan or pot containing ;
ignited sulphur was placed underneath. This primitive arrangement did I
not of course allow the bleaching process to take place uniformly, and |
darker patches must have remained in the cloth. To cover up these ;
I patches, and to give the cloth the brilliant white appearance which was |
’ 1 The excavation of this Fullonica, which was discovered in 1825, was carried out
in 1826. It can therefore no longer be determined whether the substance found was
actually soap. After what has been said about soap (see pp. no, 116), it is more
likely that it was not.
i8o SPINNING AND WEAVING (YARNS AND TEXTILES)
so much desired in antiquity, it was then nibbed with certain white
earths, as welb as with gypsum. If bleaching was undertaken with
materials that were genuinely dyed, probably correspondingly coloured
earths such as ochre and such-like were used for rubbing in. An after-
treatment then followed, which consisted in brushing, and perhaps also
Fig. 240. — Cloth Press
Mural Painting from the Fullonica in Pompeii
in fleecing, in order to make the surface more uniform. Finally, the
cloth was pressed, after having been previously moistened by sprinkling.
A press was used, as is shown in a further mural painting of the great
milling works of Pompeii ; in it the threads of the . two screws run,
curiously enough, in opposite directions (Fig. 240).
TREATMENT OF THE CLOTHS
Concerning the further working of the materials into garments, there
is not much to say. The pieces of cloth and textiles were made of the
right size at the beginning, so that they could be worn without alteration
later. Figs. 241 and 244 show us a number of Greek and Roman gar-
ments, from which we easily see that the pieces made were often of con-
siderable size, so that it required experience and skilful manipulation to
treat them by milling, bleaching, and dyeing, if reasonably good results,
and in particular uniformity with regard to thickness, colour and so
forth, were to be obtained, It has already been mentioned that this
Fig. 243. — Roman Garments
Paying Tribute
Provincial Museum, Treves
Nowadays, worn-out garments are unstitched, and are used to make
artificial wool (shoddy and mungo) ; from these the artificial cloths are
then obtained from which cheaper clothing materials are made. No such
process was, however, known to the ancients. But they knew a process
TREATMENT OF THE CLOTHS 181
uniformity could not always be achieved. To make the garments,
various processes of sewing were necessary, as for example for making
the facings, for sewing on the purple and other strips on the tunics of
the dignitaries, in
Fig. 241. — Greek Garments
Tanagra figures
Berlin Altes Museum, Antlquarium
242.— Roman Garments
Relief ; Return from a Hare Hunt
Provincial Museum, Treves
attaching the much-favoured trimmings, and so forth. For these pur-
poses, as well as for darning, needles were used which were made of very
different materials, such as ivory, bone, bronze, iron, precious metals,
and others- As now, so at that time, thimbles and scissors were also
r {
182 SPINNING AND WEAVING (YARNS AND TEXTILES)
for making use of rags, which they sewed together in special workshops
to make all sorts of articles of daily use, coverings which served for
Fig. 244. — Roman Garments
Sepulchral Cippus, v/ith a Farewell Scene
Provincial Museum, TrSves
soldiers’ equipment — further, extinguishers for placing over burning
objects, curtains for inner rooms and shops, cheap dresses, and so forth.
FELTS, ROPE-MAKING, WICKER-WORK
The process of felting was used not only for making cloth, but also for
its proper function of making felt. Felt was chiefly obtained from goats’
hair, but probably the hair of hares, camels, sheep, and so forth, was also
used. It served as a covering for the head, also for footwear, coverings for
FP:LTS, rope-making, wicker-work 183
horses, and so forth. How it was actually made is not known ; nor do
we know by what apparatus the finished felt was pressed into the
form of head-coverings and so forth. The assertion that felt prepared
with vinegar can resist even iron, as Pliny (VIII, 192) writes, is probably
exaggerated. Rope-making must be regarded as a special branch of
Fig. 245. — ^Egyptian Wicker-work of Palm Bast
Berlin Museum, Egyptian Department
textile work ; it consisted in subjecting plant fibres to a process resemb-
ling that of spinning, and then twisting them round one another. Among
almost all peoples of antiquity, there was used as the raw material, not
only flax, but also hemp, and among the Romans esparto grass [Stipa
tenacissima L), The hemp and the espartos were prepared on the whole
Fig. 246. — Egyptian Child’s Shoe, fully woven (also the sole). Palm Bast. P'ound at
Thebes
Berlin Museum, Egyptian Department
by the method already described in dealing with flaxes. By retting,
drying, beating and so forth, the desired fibre was at last obtained.
But these were not the only raw materials used. Rope was also made
of straw. In Egypt, and later in Greece and Rome, reeds, rushes, willows,
papyrus, bast (the inner bark) of the palm, were partly used for making
ropes, nets, and so forth, but also, like cane, for weaving chairs, baskets,
mats and hats. Moreover, ropes were sometimes made by simply twisting
the material together, especially if it was of a coarser sort, such as straw,
i 84 ..spinning and weaving (YARNS AND TEXTILES)
reeds and similar materials. For the rest, rope was probably made in
precisely the same way as nowadays — ^this was so, indeed, even among
the Egyptians— as is confirmed by mural paintings.
Either the finished skein of thread was taken, or it was pulled off from
the belt during the process of rope-making, or from a sort of distaff,
— ^Woven Cane Chair,
Provincial Museum, Treves
which, as we may surmise from the, mural painting just mentioned, was
held in one hand. In the other hand, the ropemaker, who, as nowadays,
walked backwards, carried the piece of wood (laying-top) which effected
the twisting together, and was at any rate provided with the appropriate
notches. A frame with a hook for attaching the ends of the ropes does
not seem to have been known. Rather these ends seem to have been
FELTS/ ROPE-MAKING/ WICKER-WOM 185
held by some assistant (Fig. 248), Then as now ordinary rope consisted
of three strands, or, in the case of stronger ropes, of a number of
Fig. 248. — Egyptian Hopemaker. Above are Coiled Rope.s
The method of making ropes is difficult to interpret. The explanation given in the text seems the most probable one
single ropes wound together, and thus consisted of 9, 12, 15 or more
threads. Strong ropes contained as many as 45 threads. Bessides
these, there are also ropes containing groups of four threads.
DYES
D yeing is without doubt one of the most ancient technical arts,
for even in the oldest reports (for example, the Book of Genesis
xxxvii. 23, and Exodus xxvi. i and xxxix. i ; and in later
times Esther i. 6), we read of coloured garments, of which some are de-
scribed in detail. It is true that the Old Testament mentions only three
colouring substances — purple, kermes (a scarlet dye) and madder (a red
dye) — (see Pinner). As dyeing had necessarily to be preceded by the
preparation of the dyes, this branch of chemistry must also have had its
beginnings in very early times. In the most ancient Egyptian graves
dyed fabrics have been found. The Phoenicians were famed for their
skill in dyeing, and, in particular, gorgeously coloured materials and
carpets W'ere made in the capital. Tyre, which were transported as highly
desirable products of commerce to all parts of the ancient world.
According to E. Curtius, the art of dyeing is supposed to have come into
Greece from Phoenicia with the worship of Aphrodite.
PURPLE
The dyes used in antiquity were probably at the beginning exclusively
organic by nature, that is, derived from animals or plants. Mineral
colouring substances, at any rate, came to be used only later. The most
renowned of all the colouring substances of antiquity was purple, which
was supposed to have been invented by the Phoenicians in Tyre. A
fable relates that a dog tore to pieces a murex (sea-mussel yielding
purple dye), and the splendid and deep crimson colour which then
adhered to his snout caused a shepherdess to use the juice from this
mussel for colouring her garment. The Phoenicians succeeded in hiding
the secret of purple- dyeing for hundreds of years. Trade with purple
fabrics brought them a considerable amount of wealth. In antiquity,
purple stood as the symbol of wealth and distinction. In Rome, only
the senators had the right of wearing a broad purple stripe [latus clavus)
around the opening of their tunics. The knights had a narrower stripe,
and in the case of the higher state and city officials, the toga pmetexta
was edged with purple. Only the general who entered the city in
triumph was allowed to wear a robe coloured entirely in purple and
interwoven with gold. Later, particularly in the reign of Nero, and again
in that of Theodosius (a.d. 379-395), laws were promulgated, by which
only the holy person of the Emperor was allowed to carry entirely purple
robes — a right which was afterwards transferred to the high dignitaries
of the Church ; and we still see a survival of this privilege in the robes
186
PURPLE 187
of cardinals. Although we have accurate information about the im-
portance of purple in the history of civilization and of manners, and
also know what high prices were paid for purple substances, which
amounted in Rome at the time of the Emperor Augustus to £30
for one pound of purple-coloured wool from Tyre, we did not until
comparatively recently know what the purple dye actually looked like,
nor how it had been produced in practice! New and very careful re-
searches have disclosed that there were various ways of dyeing in purple,
by means of which different shades of colour were obtained, according to
the process adopted and the ingredients used. In general, the price of
purple increased with the darkness of the colour. The deepest and darkest
purple, which was made from the boiled-up juice of the mussels without
any other ingredients, was obtained in the necessary shade of darkness
by performing the dyeing twice (dibapha, di^acpov). It was so dark,
that in looking at the materials dyed with it, the impression of colour
was almost lost in the general sense of darkness of the material. This
also explains the terms
used by TIomer — ' purple
night ’, ‘ purple death ’,
and so forth. The double
dyeing was carried out ‘ by
dyeing the material at
first inpelagium, that is in
the prepared juice of the
murex { 7 ioQ(piJQa, purpura),
the latter being in a half
boiled-upstate; and then
in buccinium, that is in
the juice of the trumpet
murex {k'^qv^, buccinium
murex).’ Lighter hues
were then obtained by diluting the dyeing bath with water or
urine, as well as by adding other red colouring substances, such as
orchil, kermes, and so forth. In this way, colours ranging from violet
to red were obtained, for which special terms were used (such as hyacinth-
purple, etc.).
Descriptions in particular by Pliny (IX, 132 ; XXI, 45) , as well as the
evidence of broken shells found on the site of ancient purple dye-works,
now accurately inform us about the nature of the puiple mussels. For
purposes of dyeing, various species of these mussels were used ; they are
classified by Pliny under the generic name ‘ purpura The precious
substance was delivered not only by the real purple mussel [Purpura
lapillus), but also by several species of the genus Murex. Each of these
creatures yielded a special kind of purple. In Tyre, the juice of the
mussel Murex brandaris was used for preference ; in Sidon, dyeing was
carried out by means of Murex trunculus ; the second kind 'was also called
amethyst purple. When the mussels were small, they were pounded up
together with their shells, whereas the bigger ones were killed and cut
i88
DYES
up, and then the juice was extracted. After having been treated with
salt, they were left for three days. The mass was then washed with
water, and was cooked in a leaden vessel at a moderate temperature,
produced by means of steam, for ten days. From 8,000 lbs. of juice,
the ancients obtained in this way abont 500 lbs. of residue. The foam
which formed, consisting of fibres of flesh, albumen and so forth, was
scooped off. The clear liquid was used for making dyeing tests. If
these were not successful, the boiling was continued, until the necessary
concentration of the dye was obtained. Later, namely after the sixth
century a.d., the dead mussels were allowed to lie for six months, prob-
ably so that they should dry out. This dried mass was then taken up
in water, and treated as above described.
The real dyeing substance of the purple mussels is situated, according
to the information of ancient writers, behind a small white membrane
situated between the liver and the throat, Pliny calls this organ, which
had already been described by Aristotle, ' vena ’ (vein), and asserts that
the colouring matter is contained in it in an ‘ unripe form ' as a whitish
slimy juice to the amount of one small drop. After the treatment just
described, the dye was supposed to come out when exposed to the. air,
and with particularly striking effect in the sun. This action of the sun
was in early times regarded as a miracle proving the divine origin of the
substance. The observations here stated are tolerably correct. More
recent researches have confirmed that the slimy fluid is exuded by an organ
in the coat of the mussel. A fermenting substance is assumed to be present,
namely ‘ purpurase in the purple gland of the mussel, in which it is
secreted. The slimy juice is also in contact with other substances, the pur-
purines (madder purples) , which are different in the various purple mussels,
whereas the purpurase is the same in all. Through the action of the
purpurase on the purpurine, the various colours desired are produced, of
which, for example, Murex trunculus yields two, one that is reddish violet
and the other dark blue. The juice is still colourless when exuded.
It then changes to yellow, later becoming green, and ultimately purplish
red. This transformation occurs — sa we may nowadays assume — owing
to three different kinds of influences : the first is chemical, due to the
action of the purpurase on the purpurine ; the second is due to heat ;
and the third is some kind of effect of light, that is, a photo- chemical
action. The transformation occurs with the generation of a strong and
extremely unpleasant odour, which is mentioned in the most ancient
literature. An ancient Egyptian poem of about 1400 b.c. contains this
passage about the purple dyer : ' His hands stink, they have the smell
of putrid fish.’ But Plutarch says in his Pericles : ‘ We often value a
work and despise its creator, as for example in the case of salves and
purple : we derive pleasure from them, but we regard the dyers and the
makers of salves as vulgar and narrow-minded fellows.’ Contempt of
the purple-dyer is probably connected with this unpleasant odour which
clung to them. The dye that was finally obtained is insoluble in water,
and withstands change so effectively that this property is sufficient in
itself to explain its great value to the ancients.
OTHER ORGANIC DYES 189
But their value is also to be attributed to another factor. Fried-
lander, who has made careful investigations
of the purple dyes, obtained from 12,000
specimens of Murex bmndaris only 1-5
grammes of dye. In view of this fact, it is
not surprising that, according to the calcu-
lations of Friedlander, the price of a pound
of purple dye in antiquity amounted to be-
tween £2,000 and £2,500 ; and that the
ancient purple dye-works used up immense
quantities of purple mussels, On the coast
of Saida, where such a dye-works was
situated, the remains of Murex irunculus
covered the shore to a height of several
yards over an area 80 ft. wide and several
hundred yards long.
The detailed investigation of purple
dye carried out recently by Friedlander,
showed that it is a derivative of indigo con-
taining bromine, being 6 :6'-dibromo-indigo, with the chemical formula:
This body ^ has been known for some time, and was first obtained by
R. Sachs synthetically, that is by building it up chemically from its com-
ponent parts. Before the War, this dye could be produced synthetically
for a price round about £1 to £i 5s. per lb. by chemical factories. But
it would no longer occur to anyone to make this ancient purple in quantity.
For this dye, which in the opinion of the ancients was so gorgeous, is of
a dull shade, inclined to be reddish, and tending towards violet. It
would give little pleasure to our eyes, and could be replaced in a much
more splendid form, and equally genuinely, by far cheaper products of
chemical industry, above all by various thio-indigo-derivatives.
These latest researches concerning indigo have thus deprived us of
an illusion.
OTHER ORGANIC DYES
Other organic dyes of antiquity which were used in particular for
colouring materials are chiefly represented by the following, which we
know from data given by Pliny, from the Stockholm and Leyden Papyri,
from other texts, also from analyses of ancient Egyptian and other
textiles (th2 ancient Egyptian by Hubner, the others by Blumner,
Hubner, Lippmann, and so forth). The chief source of red was the
kerines tree or its berries (Pliny, IX, 141 ; XV, 8), a parasite resembling
cochineal and living on the oak. The name kermes or alkermes first
occurred in the Middle Ages ; in antiquity it was called the scarlet berry,
^ Known as Tyrian purple. — H. L. B,
Fig. 250, — The Instruments of
a Purple Dyer
Relief on a Roman grave. On the left, a
stirrer for stirring the dye-brew ; variously
formed bottles ; coloured strands of wool (?)
(Blumner regards them as shells, but their
shape seems to indicate strands which
have been hung at the top over a bar, in
the way that dyers are accustomed to do
when washing them out). Next there is
a pair of scales for weighing the dyed
wool, from which strands likewise appear
to be hanging
DYES
190
‘ coccum ’ (among the Greeks, ^okkoq) . It was used for dyeing in scarlet.
Another familiar red dye was madder (Pliny, XIX, 4 ; XXIV, 2), which
was much used under the name ‘ rubia ' [sQvdQodavov) and, like kermes
and orchil, was added as an ingredient to purple. A further red dye was
anchusa, which was obtained from the root of the bugloss. It is now
generally known under the name alkanet. It served not only for dyeing
garments, but also as a red cosmetic (Pliny, XXII, 20). The term
hyacinthus used by Pliny (XXI, 26), the ‘ purple flower ', is probably to
be interpreted as a species of maUow, which was also utilized as a spurious
purple. The bilberry [vaccinium) was used, particularly in Gaul, for
dyeing slave dresses (Pliny, XIII, 77), probably causing them to look a
dirty- red (blackish) . Yellow dyeing was effected in the main by means
of saffron, and was practised from time immemorial. Bindings of
Egyptian mummies of -the 12th Dynasty, that is about 2500 b.c., were
dyed by means of the Egyptian safflower {Carthamus Unctorius), according
to Htibner. Among other kinds of safflowers, the genista was also used
in Rome (Pliny, XVI, 18). It is the yellow broom plant, which gives a
beautiful and genuine colour. Saffrcn itself was not seldom adulterated
with litharge (Dioscorides, Mat. Med., I, 25). Dyer’s woad {lutum) was
reddish-yellow and was used in Roman dye-works. Amother yellow dye
was obtained from the root of the lotus tree (Pliny, XVI, 124), The bark
and the root of the elstree berry {Lotos medicago arhorea) were the source
of brown dyes (Pliny, XXVI, 30) ; further, the rind and the green shell
of the walnut was used. There was an abundant choice of blue colours.
First we have the woad ‘ glastrum ’ or ‘ vitrum ’ {taarn;). It appears
that it was allowed to ferment, that is, it was placed in a sort of vat.
For Pliny (XXXV, 46) writes of two kinds of ' indicum ’, of which
the one ' forms a purple-coloured foam, which swims on top in the dyeing
vats, is scooped off and dried by the craftsmen’. Whether this was
actually indigo or some other dye cannot be stated with certainty. It
seems, however, to be established that the ancients did not know how
to dissolve indigo, for it appears only as a colour used for painting, and
not for dyeing materials. A further blue colour was litmus, which in its
fresh state also served for dyeing in red, and, according to Theophrastus
(H.Pl. I, 6, 5) was still more beautiful than purple. Litmus (orchil),
when washed with alkaline substances, did not however retain its reddish
colour, as this can exist only in the presence of acids. The colour became
changed to blue. Whether conscious use was made of this fact seems
doubtful. The Stockholm Papyrus gives a whole series of rules for
making the rose-colour of the orchil dye and also of the alkanet dyes
more lasting. The means recommended include the use of sheep’s hair,
juice from the onion, a juice extracted by boiling henbane, and also from
the leaves of lemon-trees, and so forth. Litmus {fiicus marinus) was
used in varying degrees of quality : some kinds were more highly valued,
some less. Those from Crete were considered especia,lly good (Pliny,
XXXVI, 10; XXII. 6; XIII, 136).
The most important black colour was probably made from the bark
of the oak (Pliny, XIII, 15).
INORGANIC DYES AND PAINTERS’ COLOURS 191
Besides the dyes enumerated above, which were most used, there were
a considerable number of others, less often mentioned, and therefore
used probably only in special cases, the nature of which cannot always be
ascertained.
INORGANIC DYES AND PAINTERS’ COLOURS
Whereas the organic dyes, as we have already pointed out, were
chiefly applied to colouring woven materials and cloths, the inorganic
dyes were used for glazes and for painters’ colours. So far as they served
as a colour for glazes, as well as for colouring glass, all that need be said
j about them has already been stated in the section on Ceramic and Glass
Industry. We therefore concentrate our attention here on painters’
colours.
' Historians of antiquity relate that the ancient painters for a long
i time knew and used only four colours, namely — ^white, yellow, red and
I black. This statement seems hardly credible, for, besides the various
I organic dyes, there were also inorganic dyes present in nature ; they
needed only to be powdered to be ready for use. We need only recall
: that the important colours blue and green, which are missing in the scale
just mentioned, must have been known in ancient times, in the form of
the copper-ores, malachite, and copper glaze. All peoples of antiquity
seem to have derived much pleasure from colours and painting. The
Egyptians in particular, as far back as can be recorded, painted the walls
and columns of their buildings, temples and palaces, as well as the
mummy-cases, using seven different colours, namely :
Black (for the hair and beard).
( White (iron, water, mountains).
Blue (iron, water, mountains).
Yellow (sandstone and lime, rough wood, lions),
t Green (crocodiles), p
^ Cinnabar-red (the sun’s disc). i
; Brownish-red (horses, hares, antelopes, tree trunks, iris, and the
i tear-glands in the eyes; granite, etc.). 1
a The colour most often used was of a brownish-red hue, which corre-
; sponds to the so-called Pompeian red. In chemical composition it was
' a mixture of iron oxide, obtained from the red iron deposits of Egypt, ;
; with clay. The grain of this colour is so fine that we would almost be
tempted to assume that it was made by precipitation from solutions. |
But it is probable that the iron oxide was brought into this, convenient i
form by pounding it up for a long time under water, and washing it. i
To obtain yellow, there was used, besides gold-bronze and gold-leaf, iron |
oxide, to which various shades of colour were given by adding varying ;
amounts of clayey soil, lime and so forth. By heating it, brown tints :
were obtained; and by mixing it with red, orange colours were pro-
duced. The blue colours consisted of glass fluxes in which copper salts
: had been dissolved. The fineness of the grain makes it appear probable
that the glass fluxes, while still hot, were poured into cold water, and that
DYES
192
the brittle mass so obtained, which was lined with innumerable cracks,
was powdered and then washed. As this glass mass would probably
have adhered only with difficulty to the background that was to be
painted, possibly some gum or other binding material was used with it.
To obtain a white colour, gypsum was used, and it was also applied to
obtain a pale-red colour by adding an organic substance. From what
material this organic substance was obtained can only be guessed, but it
is to be assumed that it was madder, which the Egyptians knew how to
extract from the madder root. It is interesting to find that the ancient
Egyptian architects were well aware of the durable and immutable
quality of their colours. Thus, on one of the works of Neh-Fermad
(4000 B.c.), the builder of pyramids, there is an inscription which gives us
information about the manner in which the colours used by him were
produced, and it contains the words : ‘ Colour decorations for temples
must be as eternal as the Gods themselves.'
More richly varied than the palette of the Egyptians was that of the
Greek painters. As early as 2000 b.c. the Greeks had in general the same
colours as the Egyptians, and in addition, colours containing manganese
and mercury. In the sixth century b.c. cinnabar appeared. According
to the researches of Rhousopoulos, there was even in 2000 b.c, a rich
variety of blues alone. A vase of that time contains a blue colouring
matter, which was composed of copper, iron, silicon dioxide, and carbonic
acid, and thus perhaps represents a mixture of copper silicate and iron
carbonate. Another blue colour of the same time contains carbonic
acid, silicon dioxide, copper, iron and mercury. A third blue of the time
1600-1200 B.c. was composed of a basic silicate of copper oxide, in which
there was mixed argillaceous earth to the amount of one part in four by
weight; So that even at that time there were three different blues
available, while further shades could be obtained by blending them
with clay. About the ninth century b.c. there was added to these a
further blue, namely a basic copper carbonate, which corresponds to our
present-day mountain blue or blue verditer (powdered azurite). There
was a similar rich variety of other colours. In the fifth century B.c. a
black was produced from manganese and iron salts ; a violet and a green
were also obtained by mixture, the latter being produced from iron and
copper salts and argillaceous earth ; and there are many further examples.
Among the Romans, the manifold variety of colours reached its
zenith. For every colour, almost, there are various representatives.
There was a considerable number of whites ; first of all, the chalk from
Selinus in Sicily, which was particularly highly valued ; it was wa.shed
and then stirred in milk. It also served as a cosmetic. Further, melinum,
a white earth from the island of Melos, was used, although it was not
suitable for wall painting. Another popular earth was obtained from
Eretria on the south-west coast of Euboea. According to its chemical
composition, it was a chalk which is supposed to have been used par-
ticularly over other colours. Praetonium, a chalky substance derived
from Egypt, was rather dear, and was therefore very often adulterated.
To these, there is to be added white lead, which was the only white colour
INORGANIC DYES AND PAINTERS’ COLOURS 193
of the Romans that did not occur naturally, being obtained artificially.
It was known as early as the fourth century b.c., when Theophrastus,
in his essay negl AtScov, described its preparation, which is also given by
Dioscorides, Pliny and Vitruvius. From these descriptions, it is evident
that the tpifivOiov, cerussa, was made in the following way : lead was
placed on a vessel filled with strong vinegar, and both were wrapped up
as tightly as possible, so that the vapours from the vinegar should attack
the lead. White lead was produced, which was scratched off, ground
up and passed through a sieve. The poisonous character of white lead
was known as early as the 2nd century b.c., when Nicander mentions it
in his Alexipharmaca (verses 74-76). As a yeUow colour, ochre was
chiefly used ; it was dug up, and applied in all shades, ranging from
yellow through brown to red. The yellow ochre which was obtained in
the vicinity of Athens was regarded as the best. Before ochre deposits
were discovered in Italy, Athenian ochre was so dear that it was often
adulterated, or cheap substitutes were used for it. According to the
report of Vitruvius, these substitutes were made by ancient wall-painters,
by boiling out dried yellow flowers in water. The yellow fluid obtained
was then mixed with chalk. In this way a colour was produced which
resembled in its shade Athenian cchre but resisted exposure to light
considerably less, which is not very surprising, since organic colouring
substances in general have less resistive power to light than mineral
substances. Besides ochre, there was used as a yellow colour orpiment,
that is arsenic trisulphide, having the chemical formula As 283.
There was a great choice of reds in very many different shades. First
of all, red ochre was available naturally. Among the various sorts,
‘ Sinopian ' earth was particularly favoured ; it was probably brought
from the town of Sinope by traders, and was a red chalk obtained from the
mines of Cappadocia. No less famous was the red chalk from the islands
of Lemnos and Keos, from which the city of Athens had secured the
contract rights of extracting the substance. Moreover, Athens had
special ships built for its transport. It was also known that -yellow
ochre, when subjected to heat, passes over into the red form ; this
is a process of oxidation which is still used in factories maldng mineral
dyes. It is supposed to have been invented by the painter Kydias,
about the year 350 B.c. Further, powdered bricks were used as
painters’ colours, which also became converted into a brighter red
when heated. Later, however, when better colours were obtainable,
they were only used for lime-washing. Like cchre, the arsenic com-
pounds with sulphur gave various tints between yellow and red, par-
ticularly when the red realgar (disulphide of arsenic, red orpiment) was
mixed with the yellow orpiment ; these two substances almost always
occur together in nature. Of course the extraction as well as the use
of these colours was associated with great dangers to health. No less
harmful were the production and use of minium, which was made by
heating wliite lead. This red colour (PbaO*) was supposed to have
been discovered owing to a vessel containing white lead having fallen
into the flames when a decorator’s workshop had caught fire, with the
T.A.S. — 13
DYES
194
consequence that the white colour was changed into red. To these
numerous red colours there then became added the cinnabar extracted
from Spanish mines, which is early mentioned by Theophrastus about
300 B.c. {tcsqI ?Jda)v, 59). Besides being imported from Spain, it was
also obtained from Cappadocia (Strabo, III, 144). The use of cinna-
bar (mercuric sulphide, HgS) was also very dangerous to health. The
discovery by the Athenian Kallias (about 405 b.c.) of an 'artificial
cinnabar ’ made from red sand, which came from Ephesus, while
being a retrograde step as regards beauty of colour, certainly marks
an advance in hygienic respects. Artificial cinnabar is supposed to have
been made from the sand which occurs, as just mentioned, near Ephesus,
by dividing it up finely, washing it in water, and then again letting it
precipitate. The deposit was then dried and used as a colour.
As a blue colour, there was used above all ‘ Egyptian blue ’, which
was made by heating a mixture of copper-ore, sand, lime and soda.
A. P. Laurie has recently endeavoured to produce this colour from its
component parts, and has succeeded in his efforts. According to the
investigations made by him, Egyptian blue was a crystalline substance,
which has the property of double refraction. Fouque obtained it by
glowing a mixture of 24-4 parts of copper oxide, 50 parts of quartz, 21
parts of chalk, and 4-6 parts of soda. According to his researches, the
quartz had to be used in the finest state of division, as success depended
on this point, and indeed the finely divided state of all components was
a necessary factor in the process. Th^g^wfpUltTL'Ql u LiKwliich he glowed
these substances ai ^unt^
Besides this artifldETmu^mere was also a natural blue colour avail-
able, which the Greeks called kyanos and the Romans cdemleum. It
was found in Egypt and Cyprus, and was probably lapis-lazuli, from
which a blue colour was obtained by powdering and washing — ^which
probably corresponded to our washing-blue — that is, to ; ultramarine.
The price of a pound was as much as £45. A fraudulent substitute was
obtained by using white chalk, which was coloured by a decoction of
woad. Besides these, indigo was used as a colour by painters, as has
already been remarked under the section on Organic Dyes.
The most important green colour was malachite (chrysocolla), which
was extracted from numerous deposits, above all in Macedonia, Armenia
and Cyprus. There were further used the green earth obtained from
Smyrna, and also verdigris. It was made by leaving copper in wine
lees until a green layer had formed, which was then scratched off.
Since in this way only comparatively little verdigris could be obtained,
the colour was rather dear, so that it was often adulterated by add-
ing marble dust or iron sulphate. A method of detecting the fraud
was also known ; it consisted, in glowing out the suspected colour,
whereupon the resultant change of colour of course showed clearly
whether or not a pure copper compound was present. A green dis-
covered in Crete consisted of Egyptian blue mixed with ochre. The
Romans used green earth.
For making black, soot was the chief source. It was produced, as
INORGANIC DYES AND PAINTERS’ COLOURS 195
nowadays, in special works. Pitch, resin, chips from the pine, beeswax,
dried remains of the grape and other substances, were burned in cham-
bers whose walls were as smooth as possible and in many cases made of
polished marble. The soot which deposited itself was scratched off.
Further, bone black was also in use; it is supposed to have been dis-
covered by the most celebrated painter in Greece, namely Apelles (about
325 B.C.), who produced it by charring ivory. Bone black was extra-
ordinarily dear, and was only seldom employed. On the other hand,
wood tar was sometimes used, as well as a black derived from India,
which is probably identical with our Indian ink, and so likewise repre-
sented a product from soot.
Gold dye was also used in antiquity, namely in the form of finely-
divided gold-leaf, that is as that kind of metal colour to which we
nowadays apply the collective name ‘ bronze dyes ’. The word bronze
applies not to the chemical composition, but rather to the physical
constitution of the material. Theobald surmises that at first the scraps
from the workshop of the gold-beater, that is fine strips of gold, were used
for producing this dye, by rubbing it up into a powder, and applying it
as a paint. From excavations in Mycenae, Hostman concludes that gold
bronze must have been in use very long ago. In Egypt, however, it
appears to have been applied rather late. To make the bronze powder
and the gold bronze adhere to a surface, cements were used ; above all,
probably gummy or resinous juices of plants, and also mercury. Only
small traces of mercury can however have been used, as the addition of
a larger quantity would have resulted in an amalgam, white in colour.
The mercury gradually vaporized from the alloy, while the gold bronze
clung by adhesion, or was perhaps attached by a residual trace of the
amalgam, which did not decompose.
It has yet to be mentioned that among the ancient writers definite
and characteristic expressions for the individual dyes are not always to
be found. The ancients revelled in speaking in extravagant terms of the
beauty of these dyes ; thus we read of the ‘ green of the myrtle ’, ' the
colour of the acorn ‘ the blue of the heavens ’, and similar picturesque
expressions.^ So it is very often difficult to establish which colour is
meant in a given passage.
^ Sxich terms, which can easily be paralleled from other languages, especially
those of savages, result from a restricted vocabulary of colour-names, not from
rhetorical tendencies. — Trans.
THE TECHNIQUE OF PAINTING
PAINTING AMONG THE EGYPTIANS AND BABYLONIANS
T he technique of painting in antiquity probably reached its
zenith at first among the Egyptians and then among the
Babylonians. The resistance of these paintings, as well as the
dyeing of garments, to decay, which has been much praised, is due less
to the perfect method of painting than to other favourable circum-
stances, above all, to the dry air which — ^in contrast with that of our
cities — contained no harmful gases, and in particular no sulphurous
fumes. Further, the complete exclusion of air, as for example in the
Royal tombs, was favourable for the preservation of antique paintings.
Their durability is, as Heaton, Immerheisser, Lessing, and others have
rightly pointed out, only relative. The production of Egyptian wall
paintings was carried out by first smoothing the surface of the rough
stone wall by means of a layer of slime or loam. On this base there was
superimposed a second layer of straw and asphalt. Then the actual
background for the painting was added, but only in a very small thick-
ness — of about of an inch— which consisted of chalk, and sometimes
bolus. Later, in the time of the Ptolemies (in the third century b.c.), gild-
ing also appeared, particularly on the wrappings of mummies. The water
or tempera colours applied to this background were then fixed by means
of gum or glue. The real nature of the means used in painting has not
yet been determined. It is only known that water-colours were in-
volved. When these paintings are made wet, they can be washed out
together with the background. The brushes were made of reeds, of
which one end was split up into fine pieces by knocking it against a
surface, also perhaps by chewing it. Later, however, brushes made of
hair were also used. The palettes (Fig. 251) were of wood, and were
provided with hollows for containing the colours. Besides this method
of wall painting, there was also another practised by the Egyptians,
which was even more common. The pictures and inscriptions were
cut or engraved in the stone, and the incisions giving the outlines of the
drawings were filled with a colour paste. The two methods of decorative
painting just mentioned remained predominant until the time of the
Ptolemies. They had continued in use for nearly three thousand years.
PAINTING AMONG THE GREEKS AND ROMANS
In the meantime, there developed in the Mediterranean countries,
particularly in Greece, a new method of painting, the beginnings of which
196
PAINTING AMONG THE GREEKS AND ROMANS 197
go back to the time of King Minos, as is borne out by the fresco paint-
ings in the palace of Knossos, The fact that the art of fresco appears to
ha.ve originated in Crete, whereas it was possibly unknown in Egypt, is
probably due to the circumstance that
in Crete simple distemper pictures of r ^
the Egyptian kind could hardly have f
outlasted the colder and moister climate. £1'”
It was therefore necessary to find a !|’j[ | |
new method of painting which would g |
give enduring productions. The o
analyses of the materials used for vtnl: ‘ I
Cretan fresco paintings showed that . .jij i i 'ii irii fTi i -S P
the lime was derived from a subter- 1![8' -iB| 1 g-
ranean quarry situated some miles from K ' S I ^
the palace of Knossos. To obtain the , ^ 1 li §, I
-Greek Painter
different colours, lime was used for f J If L - I ”
white, ochre for yellow, and burnt Mall.y' | « i
yellow ochre or ground haematite for , ^
red. Black was made from slate con- 4 ^
taining coal. Blue was the Egyptian ' ^
blue dready mentioned above, there- ^ I
fore a silicate of copper and sodium. v | ' „
A uniformly constituted green was
not used ; this colour was always f 1 I
mixed from Egyptian blue and cchre. ■
The lime of the earlier frescoes is not ^ jUf . ^ |
so white and is coarser than that of ,iif £ o
later periods. Moreover, it contains a . '
considerable quantity of aluminium
silicate in the fonn of zeolite. This
mineral was probably added in order to help the hardening process,
which strangely enough is not completed even at the present day. The
hardening of frescoes, as we know, is due to the lime (calcium hydrate.
Ga(OH) 2), taking up carbon dioxide fronnithe air, and becoming converted
into ordinary lime (calcium carbonate, CaCOg). Even nowadays, several
thousand years after the production of these frescoes, we still find at the
deepest points of the
frescoes in Knossos traces
of unchanged calcium
hydrate.
The Roman fresco
paintings were made in a
way similar to that of the
Greeks, The method was
improved in various direc-
tions. In particular, Vit-
ruvius (VII, 3) describes
the preparation of stucco
[tectorium] , in a passage
which, in spite of all
attempts at explanation
by AVeigmann, Donner,
B 1 u m n e r , Raehlmann ,
Keim, Berger, and others,
does not seem sufficiently
elucidated in some re-
spects. From the technical
point of view, the explana-
tion given by Berger, and
supported by experiments,
has much to recommend
it ; according to it, a
shining smoothed stucco
surface was at first pro-
duced, being either
coloured or white, on
which a painting could be
made, according to the
adopted (tempera, stucco, and so forth). It must be especially
mentioned that one of the green colours used by the Romans, malachite,
lost some of its beautiful quality on the lime. Wherever it was to be
applied, therefore, a thin coat of black was first painted on the white
ground, over which the green could then be applied.
PAINTING ON TABLETS
The ancients painted not only on walls but, later, also on tablets.
They used tablets made of wood from the cypress, larch or pine. Canvas
was hardly used at all as a painting material, although there are isolated
examples of such portraits (those found by Flinders Petrie in Hawara in
the Fayum); The dried wood was covered with a coat of white, and
THE TECHNIQUE OF PAINTING
THE ENCAUSTIC PROCESS 199
then painted. The ancients also painted on stone tablets, in par-
ticular on tablets of polished marble. Such paintings were used in
Greece at a very distant date on monuments. It was not usual to var-
nish the paintings, although it is reported of Apelles that he covered his
beautiful creations with a protective layer, whose composition he kept
secret. As all the colours were water-colours, the paintings had to be
preserved from decomposition, and this was effected by providing them
with folding doors. But the Egjrptians are also supposed to have used
glass for this purpose. Oil-painting was unknown throughout the
whole of ancient times.
BINDING SUBSTANCES
The number of binding substances, that is of those substances by
means of which the colours were mixed and made to adhere to the ground,
was comparatively large. But if we look carefully into their chemical
composition, we find that they are nearly always substances of the class
of carbohydrates or albumens, or of a mixture of both. At any rate, no
substances from the class of oils and fats were used, so that it was a
question simply of tempera painting in the original sense — that is, painting
that was entirely free of ‘ fatty substances Fischer enumerates the
following .binding substances :
' I . Gum arabic and tragacanth.
2. Animal glue ; that from Rhodes was particularly valued.
3. Blood of the hippopotamus.
4. Egg, and white of the egg.
5. Milk for smearing over the tectorium (wall surface) with earth from Selinus.
The tectorium in the Temple of Athena at Elis was painted on with milk and saffron.
Later, the milky juice of figs was also used. It was mixed with the yellow of the
egg and added to the colours.’
THE ENCAUSTIC PROCESS
Besides water-colours and the tempera painting carried out with the
use of egg, gum or glue, the ancients were also acquainted with a special
form of painting, ‘ encaustic painting’, about which Pliny writes (XXXV,
122) ; ' We do not know who first conceived the idea of painting with
wax colours and burning them into the picture’ ; ibid., 149: ‘There
were only two methods of making encaustic paintings in ancient times,
with wax and on ivory. It was done with the cestrum (a stump), that
is a tool resembling a spit [vericulum) , When people began to apply paint
to ships a third method arose, consisting in making the wax colours
fluid by means of fire, and using brushes ; what was painted on ships
was thus not damaged either by the sun, salt water, or winds.’
Ever since the sixteenth century, this passage has been the subject of
lively discussion as to the method of encaustic painting. The explana-
tions which are chiefly based on philological reasoning began in the year
1585 through Louis de Montjosieu, and have continued right up to the
THE TECHNIQUE OF PAINTING
present day. A comparison of texts undertaken by Mayboff brought
out the important fact that the three methods of encaustic painting
mentioned by Pliny {qui
^ encausto cauteriovel cestro
/ vel penicillo pinxerit) are
J the following :
/ . (i) Cauterium-encaus-
^ / tic, that is placing on the
r / colours and working them
^ Ji ^ in with a hot instrument.
^Cestrum-encaustic
^ I pointed stump on ivory
^ ^^2) Brush- encaustic —
adding the hot fluid
Fig. 254.— Tools used for Encaustic Painting, obtained colours bv mpanc: nf o
from the grave of a woman painter. COiOUrs oy means 01 a
Below, from left to right ; glass jug, knife with a cedar handle, bronze orUSH.
box with colours in four sections, which are covered with a perforated A diffimlt V Wflc: at fhiit
silver plate ; below is a basalt tablet, a bronze spoon, a niiortar ; in . uiiiiouicy WcLts d,L Liidt
front is a shovel made of rock crystal time enCOUntered, in that
no encaustic paintings
were discovered, so that it was even believed that encaustic painting
had never actually existed. Not even eminent chemists like Chaptal
(1809) and Davy (1815)
succeeded in proving the ^
Fig. 254. — Tools used for Encaustic Painting, obtained
from the grave of a woman painter.
Below, from left to right ; glass jug, knife with a cedar handle, bronze
box with colours in four sections, which are covered with a perforated
silver plate ; below is a basalt tablet, a bronze spoon, a mortar ; in
front is a shovel made of rock crystal
succeeded in proving the ^aT'^JT !
presence of wax or mix-
tures of resins in ancient \ •, w ’ ' !
wall frescoes. At last, y . \ ^ j
however, at the end of ■ V
the nineteenth century, n\ P A
encaustic paintings were ' \
discovered on the ancient ‘
Eg5^tian tombs at Ruba-
yatintheFayum.ofwhich, ‘t/ ^
according to the opinion
of Ebers, the oldest dated • ? I'M , . ^
back to about the second '
p „„ J Fig. 255-— -Instruments used for Encaustic Painting,
centui y B. C. , ana tne most the grave of a painter (woman) .
recent ones to the fourth From left to right : a grate made of crystal, bronze spoon, large mor-
century of the Christian ^ of bronze spoons
era. Chemical analysis
showed that wax was present in them. As a Roman painter's grave
had previously been discovered at St. M^dard des Pres, in which a com-
plete outfit was found, these two discoveries have made the ancient
method of encaustic painting clear to us
In the grave of the painter there were found — ^in a small box with iron
mountings (Figs. 254 and 255) : (i) A bronze box with a sliding cover (in
which were contained colours of an irregular shape) ; (2) a basalt tablet ;
THE ENCAUSTIC PROCESS
201
(3) a mortar made of bronze ; (4) two delicately worked little spoons of
bronze in a case of the same metal; (5) the handles of two brushes.
There were also found in the grave amphorae, which were partly Med
with beeswax, partly with a mixture of resin and wax ; also, clasp-
knives, colour grates, and an alabaster mortar with a spout, and other
things.
The presence of wax, which was investigated by Chevreul, the
eminent expert in the industrial chemistry of oils and fats, made it seem
probable that this outfit was that of an encaustic painter ; this possi-
bility becomes a certainty, when we compare the above with the data of
Pliny and with the manner in which the Egyptian encaustic paintings
were carried out. The little box with the perforated silver cover served
to contain glowing coals. The heat that escaped through the apertures
softened the wax colours placed above. The two long-handled spoons
with the thickened ends, which could be warmed alternately, were used
to distribute and smooth out the wax smeared on the surface of the
painting and to work it in. Experiments made by the artist Ernst
Berger with models of these implements made for the Deutsches Museum,
Munich, showed that it was possible to make an encaustic painting
in the antique style. According to the researches of Berger, the spoon-
shaped end of the instrument — ^which seems to be the cautenum —
served for the first application of the wax, which was caught up in the
fluid condition, being hot, and was spread immediately over the surface
(the first method of Pliny) ; the final touches were carried out with the
other warmed end of the cauterium. Or else, at the beginning, the third
method of Pliny was practised by means of the brush and hot fluid colour,
and the process was completed with the cauterium.
The ancient Egyptian encaustic paintings also allow us to distin-
guish two processes : in the one, an instrument differing from the brush
was exclusively used, the traces of which are clearly visible ; whereas in
the other this instrument was used only for delineating the parts of the
face : the background, however, as well as the garments, jewellery and
so forth, were made with the brush, and that mostly quite superficially
with softened wax colours. Encaustic painting later gave rise to oil-
painting. Resin was mixed with the wax mass, and, later, oils, probably
in order to retain it fluid for a longer time. In this way, there originated
an oil-resin method of painting, and finally painting with pure oils,
which the Greek doctor Aetius mentions for the first time in the sixth
century a.d. with the words, ' The oil of the walnut is useful to the
encaustic painters, on account of its drying power.’
I
TECHNICAL MECHANICS AND
MACHINES
M any of the technical achievements of antiquity excite the
greatest admiration in us on account of their massiveness, of the
colossal conceptions embodied in them, and of the splendid
manner in which they have been executed. This admiration is still further
increased when we realize that all these achievements were accomplished
with comparatively simple machines, with contrivances which through-
out result from exploiting a few easily recognizable physical laws.
‘Work’ is the product of ‘time’' by ‘power.’ We can understand how
these achievements were possible in spite of the simple machines used,
if we bear in mind that there was an abundance of both time and power
available at that period. Time was of practically no account ; in order
to produce a definite piece of work, any amount of time could be used.
There was likewise no lack of power : the existence of slavery provided
more than enough labour, and it could be used to the fullest extent.
In view of this profusion of power and time, machines could well be
of a simple kind.
THE SIMPLE MACHINES
Aristotle (384-322 B.c.) enumerates in his Mechanical Problems ^ the
contrivances used by the ancients. Among these he includes the lever
with its counter-weight in the case of the draw well, the ordinary balance
with equal arms, the steel-yard, the tongs, the wedge, the axe, the
winch, the roller, the wheel, the pulley, the compound pulley, the potter’s
lathe, the sling, the oar, as well as the cord-wheel of iron or bronze capable
of rotating in different directions, which must probably be interpreted
as toothed wheels (see page 215). If we consider this enumeration, as
well as the definition which Vitruvius (ist century b.c.) gives us of the
' machine ’ ; ‘A machine is a connected construction of wood, which
gives very great advantages in raising heavy masses ; it is set into action
artificially, namely by rotation’, then we recognize at once that the
ancients were chiefly concerned with making use of the simple devices
which in mechanics are usually classified under the generic term ‘ simple
machines Their name is due to the fact that they cannot be analysed
into still simpler machines ; they are the lever, the inclined plane,
the wedge, the pulley and the toothed wheel. By combining these, we
get compound machines. Let us now see in what way the ancients
derived advantage from the ‘ simple machines ’ and combinations of them.
1 A work probably not by Aristotle. — Trans.
202
THE LEVER AND ITS APPLICATIONS
203
It has been assumed by many, among them Wichelhaus, that the
Egyptians were acquainted only with the lever, the wedge, and the
compound pulley. This view is supported by the circumstance that it
seems doubtful whether the inclined plane was used in building the
Pyramids, as has been assumed by some investigators. If, for the
present, we therefore disregard the toothed wheel, to which we shall
return later, and examine in detail the technical achievements of ancient
peoples, as well as how they were attained, we find, as the elementary
mechanical appliances of the ancients, the lever, the inclined plane, the
wedge, and the pulley.
THE LEVER AND ITS APPLICATIONS
Of these appliances, the lever offered itself naturally; it was fairly
certainly used by all peoples of pre-history. The assertion of Pliny
(VII, 195) that it was invented by Kinyras of Cyprus can therefore be
regarded only as a contribution to mythology, and of no value for the
history of technical mechanics. The theory of the lever exercised the
greatest minds of antiquity, above all Aristotle ^ and Archimedes
(287-212 B.C.), of whom the former regards the action of the lever in the
light of related circular arcs, whereas Archimedes discovered the law of
levers by calculation.
This law states that the
product of the fqrce by
the arm must have the
same value on both sides
of the fulcrum, if equili-
brium is to be main-
tained. Thus, in order
to raise a weight that is
a thousand times heavier
than can be lifted with
the strength of our arms,
it suffices to make the
lever-arm at the end of which the force is being applied a thousand
times longer than the lever- arm supporting the w^eight. ' Give me a
fixed point in space, and I will move the earth ! ’ was the proud boast
of Archimedes. Whether the knowledge discovered by him influenced
the mechanical development of later times must remain an open ques-
tion. At any rate, the method of using the lever, both alone and in com-
bination with other devices, was known long before. We meet it among
the ancient Egyptians in the form of numerous tools, and comparisons with
the achievements of other peoples show us that the latter also knew how
to make appropriate use of it. Thus we find manifold devices for raising
water, which depend on the action of the lever, .such as the ‘ shadoof '
among the Egyptians, the Babylonians and Assyrians, and the ' picotah '
among the Indians. As we may recognize, for example, from the reliefs
at the Palace of Nineveh, which date from the seventh century b.c.,
^ Meaning the unknown author of the Mechtmical Problems ; seep. 202, n. — Trams,
Fig. 256. — Shadoof in Babylon. The two-armed lever
used for drawing water
ing vessel (Fig. 256). The workmen
apply their strength to the longer
lever arm. In opposition to this,
3 B.G.) describes a device resembling
the shadoof for drawing
^ water, in which there is
attached to the rear shorter
arm a treadle contrivance.
The bucket is then raised
by the workman walking
up this treadle (a simple
board— see Fig. 259).
The old ‘ picotah ' or
‘ kuphar ' of the Indians
worked in the same way;
In it, the shorter arm car-
ries a few steps, on which
the workers walk up or
down, and so cause a bucket to be raised or lowered (Fig. 258).
In view of the active trade relations which the ancient Egyptians
maintained with all sorts of countries, the scale-balance (Figs. 260-263)
Fig. 259. — A contrivance for drawing water, in which
two Levers are used in combination: the Treadle
Lever works the Drawing I,ever
According to Philon of Byzantium
THE LEVER AND ITS APPLICATIONS 205
could be dispensed with neither in these countries nor in Egypt itself.
Numerous ancient pictures give us information about its structure, which
resembles that of the ordinary balance of the present day. (See also
Figs. 48 and 49.)
Fig. 261. — Steelyardl. Another form
The weight {in the fonii of a lion’s head) and the mass are both fixed. Equilibrium is obtained by shifting along the
whole yard and so varying the position, of tlie point of feuspehSion. The weight is then read off at the point of sus-
pension of the fine division on the hegrfi. . Berlin, Alfes Museum, Antiquarium
An in.genious use of the lever, pesrhaps derived from the law of Archi-
medes/'was made byPIeron of Alexandria (first century a.d.). He con-
,
1-
i*
im
i
206
TECHNICAL MECHANICS AND MACHINES
structed numerous automatic machines, which for the most part depended
on the use of the lever. A typical example is given by his automaton
for supplying holy water (Fig. 264), which he describes as follows
[PneumaUca 1, 2 . 1 , p. 110, Schmi&t) :
‘ Many vessels for offerings are arranged so that holy water for sprinkling flows
ont when a five-drachma piece is inserted.
‘ Take a libation- vessel (anovSetov) or a money-
box (dijcfavpog), {a^yd, Fig. 264), of which the
aperture a is not closed.
' Let there be in the money-box (or the
libation-vessel) a (small) vessel with water
and a box -from which an exit-tube ^ leads
outwards. Next to the vessel place a vertical rod
v^, about which another on rotates like a scale-
beam. Let on be widened at 0 into a thin plate
which (in the state of rest) lies parallel to the bottom
of the vessel. At n attach a small vertical rod,
na, to which there is attached at cr a lid exactly
fitting the cylinder, so that it can interrupt the
escape of liquid through /j,. Make the lid of the
cylinder heavier than the little plate q but lighter
than the combined weight of the lid and the coin.
When the coin has been inserted into the aperture
a, it drops into the plate q and so, depressing the
cross-beam on, brings it into an inclined position
while drawing up the lid of the cylinder ; as a
consequence of this the water is allowed to flow out. So soon as the coin has
dropped (from q) the lid again closes the box and arrests the flow of the water.'
More important than
these and many other
automatic devices of
Heron, who was ex-
Fig. 262. — Steel Jack; in use
Fig. 263, — A Balance consisting of a Lever witli
equal Arms
Greek pictures on the ‘ phiale of Arkesllas '
Fig. 264. — ^The Automatic De-
vice for supplying Holy Water,
invented by Hercaiof Alexandria
tremely clever in making such inventions, were the manifold technical
applications which were made of the lever, particularly in Roman
THE INCLINED PLANE
207
times. Among these we must mention the cord-wheel, which was
used for turning the grindstone, and probably also the lathe. Further,
numerous and often very comphcated lever appliances were used in
the theatre in order to raise or lower planks and so forth, of which
isolated beams, as well as panels let into the walls of Roman
theatres, also give evidence. Lastly, very important war machines,
dependent on the use of the lever, are supposed, according to Diodorus
(first century B.C.), to have been invented by Pericles (492-429 b.c.),
who had them made by a mechanic, Artemon, for besieging Samos
(439 B.C.). We shall discuss these machines in greater detail later.
THE INCLINED PLANE
The inclined plane was also recognized in antiquity as a convenient
means of raising heavy loads. Whether it played a part, as is thought
by many, in the construction of the Pyramids (about 2800 b.c.) is doubt-
ful. According to Herodotus (II, 125), the Pyramids were built in the
following way with the help of lifting machines, whose exact nature he
does not describe,
' This Pyramid was made like a stairway with tiers, courses or steps. When
this, its first form, was completed, the workmen used levers made of short wooden
logs to raise the rest of the stones. They heaved up the blocks from the ground
on to the first tier of steps ; when the stone had been so raised it was set on another
lever that stood on the first tier, and a lever again drew it up from this tier to the
next. It may be that there was a new lever on each tier of the steps, or perhaps
there was but one lever, and that easily lifted, which they carried up to each tier
in turn. I leave this uncertain, both ways being told me. But this is certain,
that the upper part of the pyramid was the first finished off, then the next below it,
and last of all the base and the lowest part.' (Transl. by A. D. Godley.)
If we disregard the last sentence, which Lepsius interprets as meaning
that ‘ the uppermost step of the Pyramid was completed first, before
the one lying below was finished, the pro-
cess of filling in each step was carried out
from below upwards ', then the remarks of
Herodotus tell us only of the use of elevating
machines of an unknown kind in the building
of the Pyramids. But it does not seem
improbable that ramps, in the form of in-
clined planes, were present, which served to bring the stones up to
these elevating machines, if we consider the method by which the
Egyptians and the Assyrians, and probably also other peoples of the
East, transported their heavy burdens, which they always placed on
runner-shaped supports (sledges). Such a support can easily be pulled up
an inclined plane. It cannot however be imagined that this inclined
plane, as Diodorus writes, reached to the top of the Pyramid ; it prob-
ably served only for bringing building materi^s to the elevating machines
thaisr^eat he erected. An extensive literature has gathered round the
usei as the cHis ed plane in the building of the Pyramids, from which we
wishr, large stoh only that Hirt does not consider the use of the inclined
^iirffrneath loads k.
Fig. 265. — The Construction of
Archimedes’ Screw, according to
the description of Vitruvius(X,6)
208
TECHNICAL MECHANICS AND MACHINES
plane as probable, whereas Erman refuses to allow that a complicated
mechanism was involved at all, and asserts that 'these marvels were
achieved by only one power — ^by innumerable human hands, which
were ruthlessly exploited’.
The inclined plane acquired particular importance by being used in
the form of the screw, which is supposed to have been invented by Archi-
medes while travelling in
Egypt. But it is to be
assumed that it had long
been in use in that
country, namely for
pump-work in mines
(‘ Egyptian or Archi-
FiGs. 266 and 267.-
Endless Screws ’
medes ’ screw). The method of making it is described in detail by
Vitruvius (X, 6). From this description, we see that the screw or worm
was made of wood, and served at first exclusively for drawing water. It
was in the shape of a long worm k, k, k (Fig. 265), whose grooves were
enclosed in an envelope m, bound by hoops and covered with tar. The
lower part of the worm, which ran obliquely and was fixed in scaffolding
and driven by means of a treadle, dipped into water ; by continual turn- •
ing, the liquid was raised. Later, the screw was used for the single-screw
olive-presses (Pliny, XVIII, 317), and in the double-screw cloth-presses
(see the Section on Yarns and Textiles) and so forth. In other mechanical
constructions, it was also used in the form of the ‘ endless screw ' (Figs.
266, 267) ; in fibulae we find little screws of gold ; iron screws do not
seem to have been used by the ancients, as they have never been found.
THE PULLEY AND THE WEDGE
The pulley was even used by the Ass5n:ians, and probably also by the
Egyptians. Heron of Alexandria (? first century a.d.) used a combination
of several pulleys of unequal size, for altering the rate of movement of
dancing figures ; that is, he used the device which we call
‘gearing’ (Fig. 269). From it there was then derived^ used
compound pulley (tackle of pulleys) which was particul;?nfold technil by
the Romans (Fig. 270). It may be surmised that it y^rly in ' Ro?|mHo^
I'HE PULLEY AND THE WEDGE 209
the Egyptians; at any rate Arnondeau assumes that it was used for
raising obelisks; this is in agreement with Krusemann, who holds the
opinion that these immense stones were raised with the help of a tackle
of pulleys, which was fixed at the top of a pylon, and the rope from
which was wound round the point of an obelisk that had been lowered
f)n to a sand-heap from a slope. If Krusemann’s view is correct, the raising
of the obelisk on to this slope would again imply the use of an inclined
plane by the Egyptians. In Roman times, the compound pulley was
often used for oil presses, for theatrical machines, in the tackling of
ships, and so forth ; indeed it was even used in the Imperial Roman
palaces for lifts and cranes. In the so-called ‘hall of machines'
excavated on the Palatine at a depth of 66 ft., niches were found in
which the lifts worked, and also the tubes and grooves through which the
pulleys passed. According to the number of pulleys used in the com-
pound pulley, Vitruvius (X, 2) distinguishes between elevating machines,
‘ tackle of pulleys which work with three pulleys, that is trispastos,
and those with five pulleys, pentaspastos. For heavy loads, th^polyspastos
was used. The last offers the advantage of having to be fastened to
only a single tree, as it works easily and quickly on account of its many
pulleys. It was therefore used as a crane ; ‘ the circumstance, however,
that only one tree is present has the advantage that before the load is
set down, the machine may be inclined at will, either to the right
or to the left side' (Vitruvius, X, 2, 10).
In this process, the lifting machine is placed now upright and now
horizontal on crane-discs (Vitruvius, loc. cit). It also served for
beaching ships.
A special variety of the pulley is the windlass, which is set into motion
by lever action, and which was also a much-used machine ; wire ropes
were used with it, as perhaps also with the pulley, even in Roman times.
In Pompeii such a rope made of bronze wire has been discovered.
All ancient peoples w^ere expert in the use of the wedge. It served
for a great number of purposes, at first in the form of numerous tools,
such as the chisel, the hatchet, axe, and so forth, since primeval times.
Later, large stones were split by means of it, and wedges were placed
underneath loads in order to transport them more easily and to raise them.
T.A.S. — 14
210 TECHNICAL MECHANICS AND MACHINES
OVERCOMING FRICTION (SLEDGE -RUNNERS, WHEELS
AND VEHICLES)
It was early understood how to convert sliding friction into rolling
friction. As already mentioned, the Egyptians used to transport huge
masses on a kind of sledge-runner. Whether round logs were placed
underneath to reduce the friction may be left an open question. It is
likewise doubtful whether we must regard as round the logs which appear
under such sledges in the pictures of the Assyrians (see Figs. 271 and 272).
The direction in which they lie in some cases favours this interpretation, in
others contradicts it. At any rate it is certain that the round log origi-
Fic». 271. — Assyrians using Sledge-runners for Transport. Bas-relief at Kujundschik
The load, placed oa xunaers, is drawn from the front, and a lever used to assist the operation at the back is prevented
from slipping off by having a block rammed against its lower end. There are pieces of wood, probably of circular sec-
tion, under the runners, probably intended to convert sliding into rolling friction. ’ The view that the wood is placed in
the appropriate transverse position for this is supported by the way in which the man is holding the piece of wood
that he is about to place underneath and by the foreshortening of the log behind his head due to its being drawn in
perspective. Evidence against this view is, however, given by the position of the pieces of wood immediately in
front of the lever. We may assume that they have been laterally displaced or discarded in the motion.^ (Below on
the left there is a shadoof : see also Fig. 357)
nally applied to use rolling friction, which facilitates transport, gave rise
to the wheel. The wheeled vehicle necessarily appeared simultaneously
with the wheel, but its beginnings are likewise lost in the obscurity of time.
The vehicles of the Assyrians and the Egyptians used to have wheels
with six, eight or more spokes, whereas the wheels of the Greeks were
better constructed and had only four spokes. The earliest form of wheel
was probably a simple wooden disc of moderate thickness. The spoked
wheel was also of wood originally, and later was bound in metal ; finally,
it was made entirely of bronze. Bronze wheels of this type that have
been preserved have round spokes and a felly with a deep groove. The
1 They are certainly rollers, here and in Fig. 272, their apparent position result-
ing from the artists' lack of skill in foreshortening.— Tmws.
Fig. 272. — ‘Assyrians transporting a gigantic Monument on Runners. Bas-relief at
Kujundschik
A lover at the back, pieces of wood (logs) in front., behind and below the runnersj lying partly lengthwise and partly
transversely
Fig. 273. — ^Egyptians transporting a Monument on Runners
The logs do not occur here ; on the other hand, a man on the fore-part of the base is pouring water from a vessel just
in front of the path (or the artifioially-preparw slide (I)), in order to reduce the friction. Twelfth Dynasty (about
sooo B.C.). From a rock-tomb at Bersha
first rendered the wheel capable of surmounting the obstacles in its path.
They were first made of nails, the heads of which were close together
and covered the wooden fellies like scales. The tyre was only later made
212 TECJTOICAL MECHANICS AND MACHINES
of one piece and fastened only by a few nails. It was first ma,de of bronze,
later of iron. The body of the ancient Egyptian chariot rested directly
on the axle, which was connected with the movable shaft (Fig. 277) , The
round frame of the wheel consisted usually of six segments, which was
Fig. 274. — Egyptians transporting Monuments on Runners
In the two pictures on the left, the path, which has apparently been, artificially constructed, is being watered. Funeral
procession of Maia. Berlin Museum, Egyptian Department
certainly the easiest way of constructing it ; for it was already known at
that time that the radius of a circle can be stepped off six times round
the circumference. Each segment was usually attached to the hub by a
spoke. But wheels also occur with more spokes, as already mentioned.
Fig. 273. — A large Vessel carried on Sledge-runners
From the tomb of Sheshonk. Abu Shehr. Berlin Museum, Egyptian Department
The revolving hub w^as pushed over the rounded ends of the axle. The
gudgeon or bearing part of the axle was pierced with a hole and secured
by a peg to prevent the wheel from slipping off. The axle itself was
straight and had a square cross- section. The shaft was fixed to it and was
inclined upwards. It was provided with two yokes to which the horses
were harnessed. Besides these vehicles, there were also others for agri-
Fig. 277. — Egyptian Chariot (war-chariot), 8 ft. long
Museum, Cairo
by the Romans ; nor was any other.' In Roman times this was done only
by the uncivilized peoples such as the Gauls, the Belgians, and the Britons,
There were very many different kinds of Roman vehicles. Some
were drawn by two horses, others by three or four, which were always
harnessed side by side lbiga$, irigm, quadrigae). ITe drag-chain {plans-
trum) was also known. It was wound through the back- wheel and
chained to the body of the vehicle so as to prevent the rotation of the
^Wheels mounted with shai^ sidde-shaped blades, — H.L. B.
OVERCOMING FRICTION
cultural and similar purposes ; they had solid wheels and were drawn
by oxen. Four-wheeled waggons were also known, but were mostly used
for religious purposes.
The vehicles of the Greeks resembled those of the Egyptians, but like
Fig. 276. — Assyrian Vehicle with Wheels of Eiglit Spoke.s
the Persians and the Romans they also used four-wheeled waggons for
transporting heavy loads. The ‘ harmamaxa in which the corpse of
Alexander the Great (who died 323 b.c.) was conveyed from Babylon
to Alexandria, was drawn by sixty-four mules, and also had four wFeels.
Regarding Persian vehicles .special mention must be made of the scythed
chariot ^ which was used in war. This form was not applied to this purpose
TECHNICAL MECHANICS AND MACHINES
Fig. 278. — ^Egyptians building Vehicles
Above : sawing the wood ; shaping the shaft; wheel (of four spokes, a rare form in the older Egyptian vehicl(
fastening the shaft to the bodyof the chariot; bending and preparing wooden parts; stretching leather parts '
Below :
a trestle
Fig. 279. — Greek Vase, showing a chariot- with wheels of four spokes
Berlin, Altes Mhseurn, Antiqnarinm
TOOTHED WHEELS AND THEIR USES 215
wheel. The usual method was to wind the chain round the felly between
two spokes. The felly was not always cut out in a curved .shape, but
was bent artificially after the fibres of the wood had been softened in
Fig. 280. — Greek Bronze Chariot with two wheels of four spokes (Model or Toy)
Berlin, Altes Museum, .Antiquariuin
hot water. The process seems to date from very early Grecian times ;
at least we may infer this from the following passage in Homer [Iliad,
IV, 486) : ‘ This (the poplar) hath a wainwright felled with gleaming steel,
to bend' him a felloe for a goodly chariot.'
TOOTHED WHEELS AND THEIR USES
The wheel also gave rise to’ one of the most important of the simple
machines, namely the toothed wheel. If the teeth of two such wheels
catch in each other, the wheels always rotate in opposite directions. It has
not been possible to ascertain when this contrivance first came into use.
Nor do we know whether Aristotle ^ (384-322 b.c.) is referring to toothed
wheels (as Beck and Pregel hold) when he talks in his book on ' Mechanical
Problems ’ of ‘ tools that set many circles in motion simultaneously
by means of a single circle, like those votive ofierings in the temples
wliich consist of bronze or iron wheels, arranged as follows. When the
wheel AB is turned forwards, while in contact with CD, the latter moves
backwards, and, at the same time, for the same reason, EE revolves
in the original direction, and so forth if there are stiU further wheels.’
I'here are many reasons for believing that this refers to toothed wheels.
Vitruvius, on the other hand, often mentions the toothed wheel ; and .
Heron of Alexandria applies it elegantly in an appliance like the modern
taximeter which served the purpose of measuring the distance covered.
In this hodometer (Fig. 281) a pin attached to the .axle of the wheel (in
the right-hand bottom corner of , the diagram) catches in the radial
pegs, and turns them when the atle rotates. This rotation is trans-
mitted by means of endless screws and further toothed wheels to the
indicator in line with A and carrying a small hand. The greater the
See note on p. 203. The reference is to [Arist.] Meehan. 848a, 24. — Trans.
2i6 technical mechanics and machines
number of toothed wheels the greater the distance covered for one revo-
lution of the indicator (that is, the more slowly the indicator moves).
Each turn of the indicator denotes a definite distance traversed by
the chariot. The small hands on the left of
^ the fi^re serve to measure subdivisions of
distance. For the rest, Heron makes
i : plentiful use of toothed wheels in his auto-
i jd I matic machines and puppet shows, in which
he sets the arms of the figures into motion
n ^ by means of such wheels and lever devices
A I A n (Fig. 283). We also find them mentioned in
^ his writings in conjunction with winches :
V i ^ they were used together for a contrivance in
temples in which a bird is rotated and made
® to sing and so forth (Fig. 283).
Fig. 281.— Apparatus for meas- Vitruvius also describes a meter for
HSon‘*oTASandST“#itK Carriages in which stones are used to record
toothed wheels and ‘ endless the distance covered in place of Heron’s
screws’ indicators.
‘ Let there be attached he says, ' firmly to the nave on the inner side a (vertical)
drum having one projecting tooth. Above it, on the carriage-body, let there be
another (vertical) drum with 400 teeth, geared on to the lower one. Let it have a
0
Fig. 282. — The Arm of a Puppet being
moved by a tootlied wheel (according to
Heron of Alexandria)
The toothed wheel is here fixed to a spindle (so-called
cam-wheel). When the spindle is turned by means of a
weight it depresses the end 7 of the lever. After the cam
of the wheel has slipped over y, y is restored to its old
position by the weight which acts on the other arm jBe
of the lever, whereupon the next cam again depresses 7.
'rhis causes the arm to carry out a hammering motion.
(Below is a sketch of the apparatus as seen from above)
Fig. 283. — ^Toothed Wheels and
Winches (according to Heron of
Alexandria)
The apparatus consists of a bird which rotates
and whistles when the wheel 6k is turned. The
whistling is produced by the air-chamber v after
it lias been raised by turning 6k and then, by
releasing 6k, allowed to fall under its own weight
into the vessel m which is full of water. This
forces the contained air through the pipe fo.
stud which projects laterally. Geared on to this stud let there be a third drum,
fixed horizontally, pierced with as many holes as the maximum number of miles
the carriage can go on a day. In each hole place a pebble. In the case or cover-
ing of this , last drum let there be ,a single tube, through which the pebbles, as they
come over it, may drop into a bronze vessel placed imderneath in the carriage-body.
In this way, 400 revolutions of the wheel will move the second drum once around :
CAPSTAN AND 'TREAD-WHEEL 217
its stud will thus move a tooth of the horizontal drum ; a pebble will fall and its
rattle will record the completion of a mile'. (Abbreviated from Vitruvius, de
archit., X, 9, 2-4.)
CAPSTAN AND TREAD-WHEEL
Very important forms of application of the wheel were the capstan
— Clear propelled by a camel. Consisting of two wheels, with plugs mounted
the circumference. A construction for drawing water from the Nile — identically the
same in form as that used by the ancient Egyptians
'I tread-wheel. The capstan is
LI mentioned by Vitruvius, who is well
l i of the difference between the
capstan (or whim, ergata) and the
windlass {cula). The first of these two
placed vertically ; in
the second the axle lies horizontally.
The capstan was chiefly used in Roman
i mills, where it was worked either by
man-power or by animals, particularly
horizontal axle carrying one wheel
with radial pegs on the circumference ^ '‘-^W
and another carrying a series of jars ; ‘
set up in the manner customary among Fig. aSO. — Ti*ead-wheel connected with a
the ancient plgyptians Bucket-system (Chain-pump)
asses. The oldest form of the toothed wheel occurred among the
2 I 8
TECHNICAL MECHANICS AND MACHINES
ancient Egyptians ; it consisted of a wooden wheel the circumference
of which was provided with plugs.
The tread- wheel served for pumping water, for moving loads, and
also for erecting columns and similar objects. In the amphitheatre of
Capua there is a relief still extant which represents a tread- wheel in which
two naked youths are shown running. The motion of the wheel causes
a rope to wind up on a pulley suspended from a framework of beams. A
heavy column is fastened to one end of the rope. Alongside it a youth
is seen chiselling a capital. Minerva is holding her hand in protection
over the whole. For the rest, Philon of Byzantium (about 230 b.c.)
mentions that the tread-wheel is used for drawing water.
ELASTICITY AND ITS APPLICATIONS : THE BOW, THE
CROSSBOW AND BALLISTIC MACHINES
Fig. 288. — ^Egyptian Bows from tombs in Tliebes
Above : Simple bow (length of string, s ft). Below : Artistically made composite bow (length of string, 3 ft. 6 in.)
Berlin Museum, Egyptian Department
simply laid on the ground, but propped up against the door. When unused
it was kept in a decorated case and hungup on a peg. When it was to be
^ See H. Balfour in Journ,. Roy, Anth. Inst., li (1921), p. 289.
The elasticity of bodies was exploited by the ancients particularly
for devices used in war. The simple bow is the oldest of all weapons
for projecting missiles ; this is true for
almost any part of the world. In it
4r elasticity of wood is applied to
y shooting of the arrows. In the age of
A Homer it did not yet play a prominent
f combats around Troy
\ H il other arms were more important. In
..._ 11 ‘ancient times the wooden bow was
made of the yew-tree or taxm. H.
Menge assumes r^iov and taxus to
/// l 1 \ cognates. Besides the ordinary
J/ [V wooden kind a composite bow which
^ ^ was much more efficient was also used. ^
Odysseusmostly carrieda bow of this
Bow sort. It had been given to him, to seal
In the separate^^^g on^he^ight the ends are thck friendship, by IpMtUS {OdySSCy ,
XXI, 13) . It was made of horn care-
fully smoothed and of reflex curve {naXivTovov) , and so large that it was not
ELASTICITY AND ITS APPLICATIONS 219
restrung tallow was rubbed in, while it was warmed over a fire. From
Homer's descriptions we may draw the further conclusion that the bow
was normally kept in a
relaxed condition, and
that the string was fixed
just before use. This
was done in the follow-
ing way : the loose end
of the string was un-
done from the lower
end of the bow and was
hooked into the upper
end (ivtavvsLv) „ For this
purpose the bow had
to be bent {rLtaLVELv).
Then the arrow was
placed on the bow,
and the string further
stretched to shoot it
off. In Iliad IV, 105
sqq,, it is asserted that
Pandaros' bow was
made of the horns of a
wild goat (pasang,
CaPta hivCUS asga^vusj . Above: Unstrung. In the middle; Provided with a string. Below
a physical impossibility. Bent for shooting
for they will not bend.
It must therefore have been composite, probably of horn, sinew, and
wood. The composite bow was better and stronger than the simple
wooden bow, but required more skill for
its manipulation. Long before Homer
the composite bow was used by the
Egyptians (Fig. 288). One relic dates
from the time of Rameses II, that is, from
the thirteenth century b.c. ; another
originates from an Egyptian tomb of
the seventh century b.g., that is, from
the post-Homeric era. A very difficult
matter in the manipulation of the bow
was the fixing of the string. It is fOr
this reason that the ‘prudent ' Penelope
required this of her suitors. The com-
posite bow which comes from Asia,
where it still continues in use among
some peoples (Fig. 289), is made of
horn, wood and sinews, and recoils, that
is, when unstrung it curves back in the opposite direction. If it is to
be bent again, it has to be stretched first and then crooked in the
Fig. 290. — Greek Vase showing a
Man in the act of bending a Bow of
the recoiling type
220 TECHNICAL MECHANICS AND MACHINES
reverse direction. To perform this a certain strength is needed, but above
all a familiarity with the special trick involved. Penelope’s suitors were
ignorant of this knack, whereas Odysseus, being the owner of the bow,
knew it well. The way in which a bow of this kind had to be strung is
described by Buchner as follows. ‘ One loop of the string is fixed into
the cut specially made at the top of the bow and is held fast there by the
right hand, The back of the bow faces downwards. The right leg is
then placed between the bow and the string, and the lower half of the
bow is laid on the left knee, which thus takes over the pressure of reaction.
In this position the lower loop of the string is fixed into the corresponding
cut in the lower end of the bow by the left hand which has now become
free.’ Buchner states that this method of stringing a bow, 'which must
obviously be the same as that practised by the Turks, was probably
usual among the ancient Greeks, who had similar bows at a later period.’
It can also be strung in a sitting posture, and it is in this way that Odysseus
is likely to have done it.
These statements are in accordance with those of an anonymous
writer in the TdgUche Rundschau (22nd June, 1914) describing the
bending of a compound bow which came from the Dutch East Indies.
The string is thick and solid ; it is made of animal gut twisted together.
' The bow was made of black horn. It was from two to two and a half
inches wide, about two-fifths of an inch thick and five feet long. In the
middle it had a round piece of wood four to five inches long and two inches
thick, which served as a handle. To it the two long pieces of horn were
fixed by means of two iron rings. Threads were artistically twisted
round the handle.’ ^ ' The .string had a loop at both ends. A first attempt
at bending the bow was unsuccessful. It slipped through the hands,
twisted around and assumed its original form. It was only when laid
on the upper and lower thigh that the string readily allowed itself, to be
fastened to the notch in the bow. Less force was necessary for bending
the bow than for shooting, but it could be done only by someone familiar
with the trick. The full strength of a man was needed to produce the
necessary tension for .shooting. The arrow would then travel over
thirty yards. As the driving power of the bow increased considerably
for a small increase in tension, the composite bow, which gradually super-
seded the wooden bows in Greece, would carry to remarkable distances
if used by .strong and skilled archers. The arrow dispatched by a com-
posite bow can fly as far as a thousand yards and is capable of shooting
right through a bison, as is known from an investigation of the bow of
the Sioux Indians, which is likewise a composite bow made of horn.
This achievement cannot be equalled by the heavy Colt revolver used
by the American army, A great number of Assyrian, Babylonian,
Egyptian and Greek pictures, showing the simple or composite bow
or the bending of the latter, are still extant.
A natural development of the bow was the arbalest or crossbow.
1 The description, shows this to have been a compound bow, i.e. one made of
two pieces of the same material joined together. The Homeric bow was probably
composite, i.e. made of a combination of different materials, — Trans.
ELAS'I'ICITY AND ITS APPLICATIONS 2 Ji
The ancient Greeks knew of a species of crossbows which were bent by
a winch or spanner. The front end of the stock was hrmly planted
against the ground, and the back end pressed down by the lower part
of the body in order to hold the weapon tight while it was being stretched.
In the Middle Ages, too, ample use was made of the crossbow. It is
hardly necessary to describe it, as the details of its construction and
manipulation are well known. Here again it is the elasticity of a bow
stretched into a frame that shoots off the missile — ^in this case the arrow.
Although the achievements of the ancient bows are amazing even
from the point of view of the modern science of ballistics, they were
surpassed by the ancient ballistic machines, whose action likewise depended
on the exploiting of the property of elasticity. In these the tension
was generally brought about by twisting a cable composed of several
strands. The same principle is still observed nowadays in the way in
which the strings of saws are tightened, as was also done by the ancients
in the case of saws. When such a saw is loosened the wooden peg held
fast in the twisted string recoils with great force against the middle part
of the saw-frame. A single extra turn of the peg considerably increases the
tension. In the ancient ballistic machines, designated by the generic
term tormenta,^ the tension was extraordinarily increased by means
of levers and winches. While the use of ballistic machines attained
its zenith with the Romans, they were undoubtedly also used by the
peoples of the East. In the Second Book of Chronicles (xxvi, 15) it is
said of Uzziah, King of Judah (779-740 b.c.), ‘And he made in Jerusalem
engines, invented by cunning men, to be in the towers and upon the bul-
warks, to shoot arrows and great stones withal ’.
The essential constituent part of all these ancient ballistic machines
is the twisted cable, consisting of intertwined cords resembling a
sinew-pack. According to the number of these cables we may dis-
tinguish between weapons with one arm and one cable, and those with
two arms and two cables. Hemp and flax, the usual materials for making
ropes, attract moisture from the air and particularly in rainy weather
absorb large quantities of it, which causes a change in length and also
in the resistance to torsion. For this reason substances were chosen as
a rule whose sensitiveness to moisture had a less troublesome effect.
Among materials of this kind there were, above all, the sinews of animals,
horse-hair and women’s hair. One way of producing tension is by
twisting. In order to save time and energy, however, the separate strands
of the cable were tightened as much as possible beforehand. The method
of doing this, which was also adopted in the reconstructions at Saalburg, was
probably as follows : a cord was fastened at one end to a peg in a specially
constructed frame ; it was then wound to and fro through holes and
over pegs until the other end was reached, which was then also fastened.
During the whole process the cord was kept stretched to the utmost.
Ammianus Marcellinus (XXIII, 4, 4), who died about a.d. 400, gives
us a description, complete in all details, of one particular kind of ancient
^ Ballistae and catapults are terms often applied to such, weapons, but they do
not characterize them in tlie least.
222
TECHNICAL MECHANICS AND MACHINES
one-armed ballistic machine, the fiovdyHcov, or onager (wild ass), a nick-
name given to it by the soldiers since by kicking out with its hind legs,
a wild ass flings earth and stones ; it is also called because
the slinging arm of the weapon, which, is curved upwards, resembles
the telson, the hooked tail, of the scorpion.
It appears from the exhaustive and standard investigations of Schneider,
whom we here follow, that it consisted of a lower part made of two solid
horizontal beams of oak, firmly joined by cross-beams ‘like the runners of
a threshing-sledge ’ {hique in modum serratonae machinae connectuntur) .
The beams are higher in the middle, carrying bosses through which holes
are bored to take the horizontal
cable which is tightly stretched to
and fro over the tension-pegs fixed
outside in the manner already des-
cribed. Fixed in the middle of this
bundle of cords there is a wooden arm
which usually projects obliquely up-
wards and is capable of motion back-
wards below or forwards above. To its
upper end there is attached a sling made
of cords into which the missile, a
stone, is placed. The slinging arm
could be moved backwards by means
of a windlass and held in that posi-
tion by a bolt. This movement still
further tightened the already taut
bundle of cords. When the bolt
was now knocked off the arm was
suddenly dragged forwards by the cords, striking a buffer which was
protected from the violent recoil by a cushion. In obedience to the
law of inertia the sling retained its forward motion even after the
Fig, 291.—' Onager’ (Ballista with one
arm). Tightening the slinging arm
Reconstruction by Schramm
sudden stopping of the arm, so that the stone flew towards its goal in a
high trajectory. The sudden check to the motion of the arm, how-
ever, caused a recoil which made it necessary to mount the machine on
a base which yielded to pressure, such as turf or air-dried bricks. A
platform of solid stone would have been split asunder under the strain
of the recoil.
Reconstructions of the ‘ onager ’ as well as of other kinds of ballistic
machines have been made by Schramm. The wrenching power of the
stretched cords, which amounts to an initial pressure of about 14 tons
in the two-armed machines to be discussed presently, was iiicreased-sto-.,,
70 tons in the great onager at Saalburg : this is equal to the tractive
power of a very powerful locomotive. Experiments in which this
initial pressure was used showed that it was possible to hurl a stone
sphere over 4 lbs. in weight a distance of nearly 400 yds.
By exploiting the elasticity of two bundles of sinews in place of that
of one there developed from the one-armed ballista that with two arms,
which can shoot forth either arrows {&Qyava d^v^eXif) or stones {XiOo^oXa).
ELASTICITY AND ITS APPLICATIONS
223
Fig. 292. — Onager. In a state of tension, ready for shooting
Reconstruction by Schramm
There are thus two kinds of two-armed ballistae, a lighter one for shooting
arrows, the eidhytona [evOvrova) and the heavier type for hurling stones,
t\iQ p alintona
[naXivxova). So we |gg^
may talk of a light '
and a heavy artil-
lery even of the
ancients. The
weapon projecting
arrows could be of a
lighter structure, as
less power was neces-
sary to produce the
necessary tension.
Those of the second
kind were built more
solidly. They were
specially strength-
ened at the back and were bent, not by man-power, but by the aid of
winches or compound pulleys.
The two-armed ballistae are not cross-
bows, although their appearance might
easily lead one to mistake them for such.
The difference consists in the fact that the
crossbow is merely an improved bow,
shooting the missile in virtue of its elas-
ticity. The two-armed ballista, on the
other hand, is an advance on the onager :
the missile is projected by the tension of
the bundle of cords. It is not a com-
pound bow. Its two halves have no
connection with each other ; each acts
independently of the other. Their sole
purpose is to transfer the power from the
two bundles of cords to the sinew (string).
In stretching the crossbow the bow is bent>
whereas in the case of the two-armed
baUista the two halves of the bow act
merely as levers, transferring the tension
to the bundles of cords.
The ballista with two arms was fur-
nished with devices for sighting, altering
elevation and traversing ; all these things
were accomplished mth great ease and
accuracy, so that their aim was true to a high
degree, see for instance the de hello Africa ,
model a lead ball weighing i lb. was
The light euthytonon reconstructed from
Fig. 293. — Two-armed Ballista
(according to the description
ol Vitruvius, X 10)
/, groove between bars with strips g on
each side ; hik, windlass for stretclimg ;
ml, trigger {or handle) ; «, middle bar on
which the arrow was placed; 6ccil, stretch-
ing frame ; aa, the two bundles of sinews ;
pq, stand with three stnits; nt, props
(when movable, presumably a means of
directing the aim of the arrow)
xxiv, 4). In Schramm's
carried some 330 yards.
224 technical mechanics and machines
a stretching frame found in 1912 at Ampurias in Spain was capable
of shooting short arrows 340 yds. against the wind. Four arrows,
each 4 spithamai, that is 3 ft. in length, like those of ancient Greece,
when dispatched from a two-armed ballista built according to Vitruvius'
descriptions, ‘ pierced an iron-plated shield i|- in. thick, half of the
arrow (i| ft.) passing through it : thus a man carrying it would have
been put out of action when hit ’ (Schramm),
Notwithstanding these achievements, however, the ancient ballistae
had various defects, the greatest of which was the slackening of the cords
through being continually subjected to tension. Philon of Byzantium
(about 230 B.c.) therefore suggested improvements in the construction,
as described in the fourth book of his mechanica syntaxis. His
first advance consisted in making a ‘ wedge-spanner ' by which wedges
Fig. 294. — ^The Pneumatic Spanner of Ktesibios
The airtight pistons fghi move to and fro in the cylinders abed. When pushed into the cylinders they compress
the contained air. By means of the joints km the pistons are linked up with two arms, which turn on the axles n and
are connected at their upper ends with the string, which discharges the missiles. When the string was stretched the
pistons moved into the cylinders, and when it was released they were forced outwards by the compressed air and in
turn forced the string against the missile with great violence so that it was propelled in a trajectory of considerable range
were forced into the bundle of cords in order to keep up the necessary
tension. It is clear that any slackening can be counterbalanced in
this way. A further improvement was the ‘ bronze spanner chalkotonon
{xaXxorovov) , in which the defective cords were replaced by bronze, that is,
metal. But it is doubtful whether all these good ideas were actually
put into practice, for no mention is made in the literature of antiquity
of the actual use of the spanner with wedges or the brass spanner. They
have been reconstructed by Schramm, but the results they gave were in
no wise better than those of the older machines. If they were constructed
at all in antiquity their advantages must have been that they worked
more consistently and were unaffected by the weather rather than any
ballistic superiority.
Another invention of this type originates from Ktesibios, who probably
lived in the second century B.c, It is the ' pneumatic spanner ' (d
xXrjdelg degotovog, see Fig. 294, above). By this device the string of
the bow was stretched by cylinders in which pistons compressed the
contained air. Although Philon praises this 'pneumatic spanner', it
does not seem to have become popular either. Reconstructions by
Schramm gave no noteworthy results (Fig. 294).
More important than these machines was the multiple charged
HYDRAULICS
225
polybolos (jroJlw/9oAo?) invented by Dionysios of Alexandria. It is a kind
of machine-gun in which the tension is generated by turning a crank.
By this action an arrow is at the same time automatically placed ready
for a fresh shot. The arrows come out of a funnel situated above the
arrow-groove and first slide on to a reel which is turned by the crank
and which has a groove for receiving the arrow. After a half-turn this
groove is at the bottoiii and allows the arrow to drop into the arrow-groove
ready for discharging. The machine was worked by one man. It is
also praised by Philon, but to what extent it came to be used is not
known. The reconstructed models are surprisingly accurate in their
aim, the only defect being that all the arrows were directed at the same
spot, so that there was no ‘scattering’. Under certain circumstances
this is an advantage, for example, when it is a matter of preventing the
enemy from climMng up scaling-ladders or ramparts or from making
their exit through a gate.
To understand fully the ancient art of constructing ballistic machines
it is essential to know that in his descriptions Vitruvius expresses the
dimensions of the machine in terms of the given length of the shaft
of the arrow as the unit A The diameter of the holes through which the
sinews are stretched is one-ninth of this unit, and is the derived unit,
that is d == b ( 1 ) where lis the length of the shaft, in terms of which all
the other measures are given.
HYDRAULICS
In hydraulics it is the siphon, above all, that was used in antiquity for
manifold purposes : it occurred in the form of the ordinary siphon as well
as in that of the plunging- siphon and the hydraulic press. The Egyptians
were foremost in using the ordinary form as an every-day appliance.
A great number of ancient representations inform us that they not only
transferred liquid from one vessel to another by means of it but also used
it in drinking. The forerunner of the siphon may have been a pipe used
for sucking as depicted in Fig. 295 : such a pipe cannot be regarded as a
tnie siphon although it makes use of the atmospheric pressure on liquids
to raise them out of a vessel to the level of the mouth. If, while sucking
or drinking, the longer limb of the bent pipe were allowed to fall quickly
enough and if by accident the lower surface of the liquid in this limb came
to lie below the free surface of the liquid in the vessel, siphoning would
occur automatically, and the liquid would flow out in spite of its having
first to flow upwards in the shorter limb. Perhaps Fig. 295 actually
dejncts how a siphon is started by sucking. The three points which
favour this view are the length of the one limb (which is apparently being
supported to prevent the snapping of the bent pipe), the fact that there
is a bend, and that the youth is holding in his left hand another vessel which
is probably to be filled and offered to the woman waiting on the right.
1 Vitruvius says (X, 10, i) : ' The proportions of these engines are all computed
from the given length of the arrow which the engine is intended to throw, and
the size of the holes in the capitals through which the twisted sinews that hold
the arms are stretched is one-ninth of that length.'
T.A.S. — 15
226 TECHNICAL MECHANICS AND MACHINES
An extraordinary number of applications of the siphon are given by
Heron of Alexandria, who also occupied himself with the theory of the
action, making liberal use of the teachings of his master^ Ktesibios.
The plunging-siphon was also used for extracting and transferring
drinks, Philonof Byzantium gave a theory of its action as well as of the
ordinary siphon. It occurs very often in the form of an inverted poppy
(' Aristotle's sieve '), such
as was also used in the
oldest form of water-clock,
the clepsydra, as early as
522 B.c. The clepsydra
consisted of a narrow tube
open at the top and widen-
ing out in the shape of a
poppy at the bottom, the
base being perforated over
a fairly small region. The
clepsydra represents noth-
ing more than a plunging-
siphon : it was filled by
being plunged into water
and left until it had become
full. The upper aperture
was then held closed in
order that the pressure of
the air should prevent the
escape of the water through
the narrow orifices. So
soon as the upper aperture
was uncovered, the water
Fig. 295-— -a Sucker in use escaped at the lower end.
The interval which elapsed
Haight, I ft, ; width, 10 in. Berlin Museum, Egyptian section whilC the VCSSel emptied
itself could serve as a
measure of time. The rate of flow was of course not uniform, being
quicker at the beginning and gradually decreasing. The chief use of the
clepsydra up till 422 b.c. was for physical experiments (by Empedocles
and others) and also to a smaller degree as a kitchen-clock for boiling
eggs. After that date it became the universal instrument for measuring
time, for example, in the law-courts, where the time allocated to orators
for their speeches was measured by it. Doctors also used it for counting
pulse-beats. The action of the famous water-clock of Ktesibios (Fig. 296)
is based on that of the plunging-siphon. For Philon of Byzantium writes
that Ktesibios had made a fine tube by boring a small hole in a piece of
gold or a precious stone through which the water flowed out regularly into
a large vessel beneath. The rising water in this vessel raised a float
iThat Heron was actually a pupil of Ktesibios is by no means certain. —
Trms,
HYDRAULICS
227
carrying a rod provided with
little teeth which caught, in
toothed wheels and brought
about all the motions neces-
sary for recording time.
The Deutsches Museum in
Munich possesses a recon-
structed model of Ktesibios’
water-clock made by Speck-
hart. The internal mech-
anism is as just described.
The rack and pinion and
other toothed gearing are
connected with a column
4 ft. high, on the cylindrical
surface of which the hours of
the day from one to twelve
twice over are marked
from below upwards. On
the right at the foot of
the column there is a female
figure from whose eyes tears
are continually falling.
These tears collect in a
vertical tube and gradually
raise a float which supports
a second female figure on
the left of the column,
whose purpose is to indi-
cate the hour by means of
a rod while moving past the
column. When the figure
has traversed the twelve
hours of day and the twelve
hours of night, a valve
opens in the large collecting
chamber and allows the
water in it to flow out on
to a water-wheel which
makes the toothed gearing
turn by a certain amount
and so causes the cylindrical
■'umn to register the ad-
^ of a day. Thus the
X Fig. 2q 6. — Ktesibios’ Water-clock
X as reconstructed by Speckhart
Deutsches Museum, Munich
328
TECHNICAL MECHANICS AND MACHINES
column moves once round its axis in 365 days. In this process the
collecting chamber empties itself completely, and the figure with the
supporting float rapidly sinks to its initial position, closing the valve, and
then begins to indicate the succession of hours of the new day. Each
new day is recorded by means of the tongue of a serpent in the act of
rearing itself up. Similar
U water-clocks were in use in
Egypt as early as 300 b.g.
The principle of its
action is sufficiently clearly
seen in this reconstructed
model. There may be
differences of opinion
about the details, such as
how the rate of flow into
the collecting chamber was
y regulated, how the length
of the hour was adapted
to the prevalent season,
for according to the con-
vention of the ancients
the hours were shorter in
winter than in summer,
since the time between
sunrise and sunset was
simply divided into twelve
equal parts. As pointed
out by Diels, the appar-
atus could, be adapted to
meet the varying length of
the hour in two ways :
either by altering the rate
of supply of the water
Fig. 297. — Ktesibios’ Water-clock as reconstructed according tO the seasOn, Or
by Diels by making the indicating
See the additional note on p. 332. Variable. In the
latter case the inflow of water must remain quite constant. Diels solves
the problem of producing a regular supply in his reconstructed model
(Fig. 297) by following the directions of Vitruvius^ (IX, 8, 6). The
second method of overcoming the difficulty raised by the varying length
of the hour in the different seasons was very simple. It is visible in
Speckhart’s model as well as in that of Diels, and is as follows.
The signs of the Zodiac are written around the top of the rotating''
column. Below each sign twelve equal spaces are marked out, but the,
space under each sign differs in size from those under any other sign",
that is, only meshes in the same vertical column are equal. As we pass
along the signs of the Zodiac in the direction of the winter months, the
. •■■1 See ■p.-.-.232.-'
■ y
EXPLOITING GAS-PRESSURE 229
incslies in the corresponding columns become successively narrower, since
the hours become shorter. On the other hand, in the direction c)f the
summer months the meshes become broader, corresponding to longer
hours. As mentioned above, the column performs a complete revolution
once in 365 days. In this way the figure standing on the float indicates
with its rod shorter hours in winter and longer hours in summer.
The hydraulic press served in antiquity to convey water over hills ;
in this way water was sometimes raised to considerable heights (over
1,000 ft. at Pergamon). Further details will be found in the Section on
Water Supply.
THE PRESSURE OF WATER: THE WATER-WHEEL
To exploit the pressure of water the water-wheel was used, but it was
known only in the under-shot form. In Roman times it was used both on
land and on ships. The frequent assertion that over-shot water-wheels
were also used for technical purposes is not corroborated by trustworthy
evidence. One important form in which the under-shot wheel was
universally used in antiquity was the
Persian wheel or noria. Vitruvius
(X, 5, i) writes as follows about it :
' Wheels are used in rivers in the same
fashion as has been described above.
Around them boards are attached and these
being struck by the rush of the stream move
forward and force the wheel to turn, and in
this fashion they draw up the water in
buckets and carry it to the top without
workmen to tread the wheel. Thus, being
turned by the flow of the stream, the wheels
furnish what is necessary for the purpose in
hand.
‘Water-mills are turned in the same
fasMon,’
For the rest, the under-shot water-wheel has survived up to the present
day in many Alpine valleys, whose civilization dates back to Roman times
even in places where the middle- or over-shot wheel would have been
equally suitable on technical grounds.
EXPLOITING GAS-PRESSURE
Gas-pressure was made use of in antiquity only in isolated instances,
but both atmospheric and steam pressure found some applications. We
have already described how Ktesibios made use of air-pressure in the
brass spanner for bending bows. A more important application is the
force-pump, also invented by Ktesibios, of which several descriptions
have been handed down to us. We will quote that of Vitruvius (X, 7),
which seems to be the best :
‘ It is made of bronze, and has at the bottom a pair of cylinders (ao) set a little
way apart, and there is a Y-shaped pipe (c) connected with both (bb), and joining
Fig. 298. — Use of the under-shot
W'ater-wheel in the manner of the
ancient Romans. Near Wolkenstein
in the Val di Gardena
230
TECHNICAL MECHANICS AND MACHINES
them to a vessel {d) which is between the cylinders. In this vessel are valves
{e) accurately fitting over the upper vents of the pipes, which stop up the vent-
holes, and keep what has been forced by pressure into the vessel from going down
again.
‘ Over the vessel a cowl {/) is adjusted, like an inverted funnel, and fastened
to the vessel by means of a wedge thrust through a staple, to prevent it from being
lifted off by the pressure of the water that is forced in. On top of this a pipe is
jointed, called the trumpet, which stands up vertically. Valves are inserted in
the cylinders, beneath the lower vents (g) of the pipes, and over the openings [h)
which are in the bottoms of the cylinders..
‘ Pistons (i) smoothly turned, rubbed with oil, and inserted from above into the
cylinders, work with their rods (A)
and levers upon the air and water
in the cylinders, and, as the valves
stop up the openings, force and
drive the water, by repeated pressure
and expansion, through the vents
of the pipes into the vessel, from
which the cowl receives the inflated
Fig. 299. — Fire-pump. Reconstructed
according to the directions of Vitru-
vius
Fig. 300. — ^The Water-organ of Ktesibios
If the lever-arm H is pressed down by foot, the piston B is
pressed upwards in the cylinder A. This forces the air in
A to pass through the valve C into D. If the piston sinks
under its own weight, air is again drawn into A and is again
forced over into D. The air in the receiver D presses down
the contained water and causes the level of the water outside
to rise. The pressure of this water makes the air in D and
E rush through the organ pipe G and causes it to sound
whenever E and G are brought into communication by
striking the key F
currents, and sends them up through the pipe at the top ; and so the water can
be supplied for a fountain from a reservoir at a lower level.’
There were no hoses to the pump. The architect Apollodorus, who
lived in the reign of Trajan, sought to overcome this defect by using the
intestines of oxen for hoses. To one end of them was attached a reservoir
made of skins sewn together and filled with water. The water was
expelled by pressing together these siphones, as they were called. Fire-
men's work was carried out in Rome by the siphonarii.
In the ruins of Castrum Novum a pump was found which in the main
agrees with the above description, except that the two pipes are not
oblique but run horizontally into the air-chamber ; this chamber is
weakly constructed, being of one piece with the cowl, whereas Vitruvius
prescribes two pieces.
The action of Ktesibios' water-organ (Fig. 300) likewise depends on the
EXPLOITING GAS-PRESSURE
231
effect of air-pressure. Air is compressed by a piston and forced into a
receiver. It displaces the water in this receiver. The displaced water
causes the level of the water in a larger surrounding chamber to rise.
This outer water transmits its pressure to that within the receiver and
therefore also to the contained air. When a valve attached to the
receiver is opened, the air rushes out and is directed into the organ
pipes situated immediately above. While the air is being expelled the
water gradually enters the receiver from the outer chamber owing to
the pressure of the outer water, until the receiver is at last full of
water again.
Furthermore, air-pressure is utilized in the apparatus known as Heron’s
fountain, invented by Heron and still called after him. We may assume
Fig. 301.— The Aeolipile of Heron of Alexandria
that the reader is familiar with its construction. It was probably of no
particular technical value to the ancients. On the other hand, Archytas
of Tarentum (about 400-365 b.c.) set into motion a flying-machine in the
form of a wooden dove by means of compressed air (Gellius, N. A. X, 12,
9 et seq).
The pressure of steam was exploited in the aeolipile (nowadays called
Barker’s mill) of Heron : it may be called the first turbine that was made.
Heron himself gives a description of it somewhat as follows ;
' The object is to make a ball move on a pivot over a heated vessel. Let
(Fig. 301) be such a vessel, containing boiling water. Let it be closed at the top
by a lid yd, to which is fixed a bent tube : this tube is connected by an air-
tight joint with a hollow ball Ox. Diametrically opposite jj there is a pin Xfj, resting
on the lid. The baU is furnished with bent hollow arms also diametrically opposite
one another ; these arms and tubes are connected with the ball and are bent in opposite
directions. The bends must be imagined right-angled and perpendicular to the
line r/A. When the boiler is heated the steam enters the ball through etn and con-
sequently issues forth through the bent arms, impinges upon the lid, and so
causes the ball to rotate in a manner similar to that of the dancing figures.'
(In the latter the motion is produced not by steam but by means of
hot air.)
232 TECHNICAL MECHANICS AND MACHINES
For the rest, vSteam pressure was not only used in the above form, in
which it exerts a dynamic effect, but also in the form in which it is nowa-
days exploited in Papin's digester, that is, for cooking meat. The Greek
physician Philumenos reports of this about a.d. 250 as follows.
‘ The meat is placed in a pot containing rain-water. This pot is then closed
and greased {clausam ollam minin') and placed at night in an oven filled with glowing
coals. It is left all night. The steam causes the meat partly to dissolve and
produces a thick gelatinous brew.'
In a later passage he remarks about the preparation of a kind of aspic :
‘ Many people also cook calves’ feet [imgulas vituUnas) in the broth all
night long, until they dissolve, and then the liquid becomes stiff and
gelatinous’ {sfissus fit et gluiinosus).
Diels’ Note on the action of Ktesibios’ Water-clock depicted on p. 228 :
The water from the pipe A passes through the tap F by which the supply can be cut off ; it passes into the regu-
lating chamber BCDE and through E by way of a fine tube out into the reservoir KLMN. If the pressure in the main-
pipe A is great the water in the small chamber will not pass in the ordinary way through E, but will accumulate and
so raise the float G whose upper surface is conical, so that the supply from the main-pipe is cut off. As the water
flows out through E the level of the water gradudly falls and with it the float, so that the water from A can flow in
more readily until the nonnal level is again reached.
METHODS OF PRODUCING FIRE:
LIGHTING AND HEATING
FIRE— APPLIANCES
T he technique of lighting and heating was bound to remain on an
elementary plane so long as the kindling and keeping up of fires
were more or less a matter of chance. The real development
began with the time when man had acquired a certain skill in making up
fires, and when he possessed those contrivances which may be summarized
under the name of fire-appliances. The place and date of their origin is
lost in the obscurity of prehistoric ages. Wliereas many archaeologists
maintain that the art of kindling a fire at will must have ‘reasoned out',
others are of the more justifiable opinion that this art owes its existence
to observation and experience. It is very probable that in the making
of primitive tools and weapons it was frequently observed that the piece
of wood which was about to be pierced by being bored with another
piece of wood ignited spontaneously, if both pieces were sufficiently
dry and covered with boring dust.
At any rate such appliances, which produced ignition by the friction
of wood against wood, are found among all the people of antiquity and
even in prehistoric periods. In the ‘ Homeric ’ Hymn to Hermes we
read :
‘ And he brought together much wood, and sought after the art of fire. A
fair bough of laurel he took and smoothed it to a point (?) with iron and there-
with drilled, for well it fitted his hand, till a hot breath arose. Yea, Hermes first
of all produced firesticlrs and fire. And much dry wood he took ; in a trench in
the earth, in bundles (?), did he lay it in great abundance ; and the flame gleamed,
shooting forth afar a jet of fire that is mickle of might.’ (108-114 ; see Sikes and
Allen's notes.)
If this corrupt and difficult passage is rightly interpreted, and it seems
certain that something equivalent to the words in italics must be supplied,
we have a description of the fire-drill in a simple form. Wood of
the laurel was employed by the Greeks and Romans for a very long
time for the purpose of ignition. A large piece of soft wood was taken,
preferably ivy or clematis, in which several holes were bored. In one of
these holes a rod of hard wood was placed which was provided with a
233 .
METHODS OF PRODUCING FIRE
234
handle ol hemispherical form similar to that of the bores used in the same
way. One hand was placed upon the handle and this hard pointed end of
the rod was pressed into the soft piece of wood. Then it was rotated
quickly by a bow and bowstring till the easily inflammable material, the
‘tinder', placed in the hollow space,
took fire. For tinder such things as
charred canvas, wood-dust, dry grass,
dried mushrooms, leaves and so forth
were used. Pliny (XVI, 208) describes
this method of making fire as follows ;
‘Wood is rubbed on wood and this
friction causes fire which is attracted to
the dry tinder. There is nothing more
suitable for this purpose than ivy and
laurel, the former to be rubbed and
the latter to produce the rubbing.
But clematis and other creepers have
also answered the same purpose well.'
Besides these fire-appliances, others
were also known to the ancients. In
Greece and Rome steel and tinder were
used in combination with not only ordinary flint but also pyrites, and other
kinds of suitable stone. The ‘ steel ' was either a longish piece of steel,
a nail, a key or another piece of the same stone (Pliny, XXXVI, 138).
Furthermore, fire was made with the help of concave mirrors composed
of bronze and covered with silver-foil, which were already known in 640
B.c.,and lenses were made of rock-crystal or glass, as has been proved by
Layard's discovery in the palace of Assur-nazir-pal at Nineveh.
Aristophanes (450-385 B.c.) says in his comedy The Clouds (767) that a
burning lens, such as Strepsiades uses in order to rid himself of a debt of
five talents by melting a wax tablet, is also used for lighting fires. If
the sacred flame went out in Rome it was ignited again, according to Plu-
tarch, by means of bronze or silver concave mirrors or burning lenses.
Pliny (XXXVII, 28) and Isidore (XVI, 13, i) mention that the latter
were sometimes made of rock crystal. The assertion that Archimedes
had set the Roman fleet on fire by means of concave mirrors at the siege
of Syracuse arose falsely at a later period, and there is no doubt whatso-
ever that such an act was technically impossible.
LIGHTING
THE OLDEST METHODS OF LIGHTING
The earliest method of lighting was by means of the hearth-fire.
According to Homer, for instance, Hermes finds the nymph Kalypso
weaving by the fireside. There followed the use of splinters of smoulder-
ing pine-wood. This method persisted throughout the whole of antiquity
and has not been entirely discarded even to-day. In its place amber
Fig. 302.-— Bow and Sinew for light-
ing a fire (so-called fire-drill of the
Eskimos)
LIGHTING
Fig. 303. — ^Vasc with Torch-bearer
Boeotian Vase with red figures from the middle or the second half of the
fifth century b.c. Altes Museum, Antiquarium, Berlin
' ^35.
seems to have been used only by the inhabitants of the Baltic coast. At
least, Pliny says that they used it ' pro ligno ad ignem that is, in the place
of pine-wood splinters for producing fire and heat. In proportion as
civilization and the sense of beauty developed, however, these splinters
could not entirely satisfy
all needs. Better and finer
methods of lighting were
sought. First of all, the
splinter was improved, that
is, it was elaborated into the
torch, which may have
served originally as a fire-
brand, in time of war, to judge by ancient Assyrian representations of the
ninth century B.c. Several splinters bound together were dressed with
pitch, asphalt or resin. Later on, sprigs of vine were interlaced and
saturated in a similar way. At a further stage of development the vine
was succeeded by fibres which were able to absorb a great quantity of
such-like fuel, especially when they were old and decayed. In order to
handle the torch more easily people made use of manifold devices. At the
time of Homer great pans of clay or copper {Odyssey, XVIII, 307), prob-
ably placed upon plinths, served as receptacles for very dry wood which
had been mixed with resinous wood {datq or d^q) and then burned.
From the sense ‘ re.sinous wood ' is derived the meaning ‘ torch ’ (Schlie-
mann) ; it occurs in Thucydides, Plutarch, and so on. Later on, little
cases {<pav 6 g, Lat. funale), were used as torch-holders ; an example of
this kind of carrying cup was unearthed by Schliemann in the city of
Tiryns near Argos, which was destroyed in 468 b.c. This torch-holder
was made of brownish-red clay (Fig. 304).
Fig. 304.-
- Torch -holder from
Tiryns
236 METHODS OF PRODUCING FIRE
LAMPS AND CANDLES
But the torch could not satisfy the love of beauty of the ancients, who
required a mode of illumination more in harmony with their standard of
life. The lamp and the candle were the next stages in lighting, the lamp
being the older. In Greece the candle does not seem to have been known
till the time of the Roman emperors, but doubtless both the lamp and
the candle have developed out of the torch. As a first step, the above-
mentioned Homeric torch-pans were filled with oil instead of resinous
wood, and so lamps arose. On the other hand, candles came into existence
in the following way. The actual inflammable matter was increased in
the torches and at the same time substances were chosen which made as
little smoke as possible, and the proportion of fibrous to combustible
material was continually diminished.
Lamps were unknown at the time of Homer and did not appear in Asia
Minor until the sixth century b.c. Previously to this, torches and fire-
pans and basins filled with burning resinous wood were used in those
countries for the illumination of houses. There is no conclusive evidence
that lamps were used even in ancient Egypt in pre- Roman times. Not a
trace can be found in ancient Egyptian pictures which suggests the use of
a lamp. On the other hand, paintings of funeral processions sometimes
show a person carrying a sort of candle or torch, more likely the latter. It
is true that Herodotus ( 11 , 62) mentions an Egyptian lamp-festival and
accurately describes the lamps in the words, ‘ these lamps are vessels filled
with salt and oil on the top of which
the wick floats But nobody has
ever found an Egyptian clay-lamp of
pre- Roman times. If we bear in
mind the frequent use of glass by the
Egyptians the , conjecture cannot be
dismissed that the lamps here referred
to were of glass, if we assume that
' lamp ’ is the correct term at aU. In
AUahun and Hawara in Eg5q)t clay
bowls of some 3 in. in height, partly
oval-shaped, were found similar to the
small night-lights filled with tallow in
use at the present time. They show
no provision for the reception of a wick.
Although the hieroglyphic probably
represents a lamp of this kind, it is
doubtful whether such a lamp is meant in
this instance. The Egyptians used lime-
stone stands for illuminations at festi-
vals. They were about a yard in height and supported a flat granite bowl
which had no device for the reception of a wick. It is probably no more
justifiable to call them ' lamps ' than the similar stands which date from
the Minoan period of Crete (Fig, 305). It was not tiU the Romans used
Fig, 305, — Stone Lamps of the
Minoan Period of Crete
From reproductions in the Deutsches Museum,
Munich
the lamp for all kinds of purposes that it spread
to all peoples of antiquity and became a much-
used common article. The number of ancient
lamps handed down to modern times is unusually
large and among them are some of very high
artistic merit. The lamp, originally nothing more
than a crudely-shaped bowl, became in the course
of time an object of the highest luxury. Although
it developed to a high standard of artistic excel-
lence, its progress from a technical point of view
was slight, apart from a few irrelevant improve-
ments.
The bronze lamps developed from the cast
and beaten vessels, the execution of which has
been discussed in detail in the section ‘ Working
in Metal ’. On the other hand, the more ordin-
ary forms of clay lamps were chiefly shaped on
Fig. 306. — Lamp-mould.
On the edge four bosses
to secure an exact fit
with the companion
mould
Found at Pergamon. Altes
Museum, Antiquarimn, Berlin
Fig. 307. — Closed Clay Lamps (Roman) with two or more openings
(In the top left-hand corner a bowl. In the bottom right-hand comer fibulae.) The lamps are of different form (foot
and so forth), and have a different number of openings. The three stnallboles beside the bigger hollow in the middle of
the lamp in the top left-hand corner are intended to accelerate the filling of the vessel, tbe"air escaping through them
while on is quickly poured into the centre. The lamp has a rim in order that if loo much oil is poured in, it will not
soil whatever the lamp stands on, but flow back into it. There is a similar rim on the lamps in the top right-hand and
the bottom left-hand corner ; the latter has an oil reservoir mxd two passages for wicks. The slit behind the apertures
for the wicks serves partly to allow spilt oil to flow back, for it is unable to flow into the big opening on account of the
rim, and partly for adjusting the wicks backwards or forwards. Found at Nidda. Stadtisches Historisches Museum,
Frankfort-on-tbe-Main
Fig. 309. — Closed Roman Lamps (Safety Lamps
In the completely closed lamps the opening for refilling is very smalt, always smaller, inc
the wick, so that the oil is prevented from igniting, to the lamp on the left above, there is a
tliese two openings ; it is on the inner side of the concave surface leading to the opening for 1
was to allow the wick to be easily ad j usted while it was burning. The opinion that the wick 1
from slipping by a pin fixed in this hole can hardly be supported becaiise the swollen soake
and could hardly have been held in position by a smooth pin. Provincial Mi
;ed, than the opening for
mall hole visible between
le wick. The idea of this
light have been prevented
wick does not easily slip
seum, Trdves
METHODS OF PRODUCING FIRE
the potter’s wheel. The better ones, however, were made in moulds
as follows. A lamp-form was modelled
by hand and covered all round with
clay which was then cut through hori-
zontally in such a way that two moulds
were made, one for the lamp proper
and one for the lid. Sometimes, how-
ever, the lid and the vessel seem to
have been shaped separately. In order
to secure a close fit for the two parts
of the lamp the forms were marked
Fig. 308.— Bronze Lamp with open with corresponding symbols, some-
Bow] and funnei-^aped Spout for times with letters of the alphabet.
still more frequently the form of the
Altes Museum, Antiquarmm, Berlin ^ ,
lamp proper exhibits bosses on the
edge which fit into corresponding notches in the mould of the lid.
f LIGHTING 239
The two moulds were separately lined with lamp clay, firmly pressed
in ; before this clay had dried too much, they were placed on top of one
another and were then probably tied together. The lid and the vessel
thus came into a suitable position and adhered together to form a uniform
i whole. After the mould had been opened the lamp was taken out.
Fig. 310. — Annular Roman Lamp, of
reddish micaceous clay. With eight
openings for wicks and one opening
for refilling, on the right above
Found at Rottweil, Wilrtemberg. Rottweil
Museunj
Fig. 31 1. — .\nmilar Roman Lamp
with crossed arms, used as a chan-
delier
Roinisch Gennanisches Zfintralmusfium, Mainz
The clay, having dried and shrunk a fair amount, is further dried in the air
and finally burned at a low temperature. Before the la.tter process was
earned out, details such as handles, ears, adornments (dolphins and so on)
were sometimes added, which were either formed by hand or made in
Fig. 312. — Greek Lamp
on a Stand ; one
quarter of its natural
size.
Found at Novum lUuin
Fig. 313. — Bronze Stool serving as
lamp-stand
Altes Museum, Antiquarimn, Berlin
large quantities by pressing the clay into moulds. Technically lamps
improved very little, as already mentioned. First of all open bowls filled
with oil were used, on top of which the wick floated. Afterwards the
lamp was provided with a lid which was intended to prevent the oil from
240 METHODS OF PRODUCING FIRE
being spilled when the lamp was being carried about and, more important
still, to minimize the chance of the oil surface catching fire from the burn-
ing wick. An opening is kept free in front to enable the lamp to be refilled
1
Fig. 3i4.~Bronze Lamp-stands
Found at Pompeii
and also serves to take the wick. Later on there were two separate
openings, one for filling and one for taking the wick. In course of time
the opening for the wick was made conical in shape. Some lamps have
separate funnels for the wicks,
— — — sometimes as many as twelve
Y s {6 rQlfiv^oL,noX'6fivioi), The
\ ■ HP poet Kallimachos (310-238 B.c.)
even mentions alamp with twenty
Fig. 315. — Greek Lamp-stand for sus-
pending four lamps
Found at Pricne. Altes Museum, Antlquarium, Berlin
.' — Greek Chandelier for sus-
pending five lamps
Found at Priene
wicks. Lamps of this kind, often shaped hke wreaths or flat round bowls,
were frequently suspended in the manner of our chandeliers (Figs. 310, 311) .
To enable the lamps to be set down special lamp-stands were used,
which were often of high artistic perfection and were so devised that they
could support several lamps at the same time (Figs. 313, 314). On other
stands, the lamps are suspended by little chains (Figs. 315, 316). Finally
LIGHTING 241
the lamp was provided with a hollow cylinder leading through it vertically
from top to bottom and projecting beyond it, by means of which the lamp
could be moved along a vertical rod attached to the stand. By shifting
the lamp either upwards or downwards the flame could be brought into
a suitable position. This motion of the lamp as w^ell as the adjustment of
the wick was effected by means of small tongs suspended from tiny chains
or sharp thorns, both merely signifying a primitive method of altering the
intensity of the illumination. It is not the absolute but the relative
illumination which is altered, that is, the luminosity remains the same,
but by altering the distance between the lamp and the place of w'ork, how-
ever, the amount of light received is now a greater now a smaller fraction
of the total quantity of light emitted. Replenishing the lamp with oil
is a troublesome task. Methods
were therefore sought to enable
the lamp to be fed for longer
periods by means of recept-
acles holding reserve supplies.
Fig. 318, — The Lamp of Heron of Alex-
andria, with an automatic adjustment
of the wick •
Philon of Byzantium (230 b.c.) improved this oil reservoir by making the
oil flow automatically and thus maintain the same level (Fig. 317).
In his oil-lamp a tube Umn with a lateral hole stands vertically in the
centre of the body of the lamp, which is filled with oil. The oil reaches
above the hole of the tube, the upper part of which is surrounded by the
reservoir a containing the reserve supply. The reservoir has two lateral
orifices be and cd near its bottom. According to a simple physical law
the oil can flow out of these orifices only if the external atmospheric
pressure acts on the surface of the liquid in the reservoir. So long as the
lateral opening of the tube is covered with oil, the surface of the liquid is
shut off from the air outside. If the flame has consumed sufficient oil to
free the lateral opening of the tube from the oil in the body of the lamp,
the external atmospheric pressure exerts itself through this opening and
the tube, and so acts on the surface of the liquid in the reservoir : the oil
flows out till the lateral aperture is again covered with it. Then the con-
nection between the reservoir and the air outside is again interrupted:
the reservoir supplies no more oil until the opening is once more free. This
process is repeated so long as the oil supply lasts. Philon’ s lamp shows
that the physical laws concerning atmospheric pressure had been well
mastf,red, and it gives an excellent solution of the problem in question.
JJke the refilling of the lamp, the process of pushing the wick forward
T.A.S . — 16
242 METHODS OF PRODUCING FIRE
continually is an unpleasant accompaniment in the handling of these
lamps. Heron of Alexandria therefore constructed another kind of
automatic lamp in which the motion of the wick is brought about by means
of a floater and cogged wheels. Heron (1, 34) describes his lamp some-
what as follows (p. 162, Schmidt) :
‘ Let us assume the lamp to be a/Sy. Through the orifice or socket we push an
iron pin which moves freely about the point e. Round the pin we loosely
twi.st the wick and place beside it a toothed spindle (cog-wheel) ^ which easily
moves around a small axle. The teeth of this wheel grip into the rod in such a way
that when the spindle is turned the wick advances through the action of the teeth.
Let the lamp have another opening in the middle of its body. When oil has been
filled in, let a vessel r] float on its surface. With the latter connect a small
toothed vertical rod 0 which grips into the teeth of the small spindle. In proportion
as the oil is used up the tin sinks, and by means of the teeth of the small rod the
cog-wheel ^ is made to turn. The consequence is that the wick moves forward,'
The last-mentioned stage of development as well as the mechanical
contrivances in the lamp cannot be called improvements from the point
of view of the technique of illumination : they do not increase the
luminosity. The manufacture of large lamps and the application of
thick interlaced wicks are not an improvement either as regards the
transmutation of the energy contained in the fuel into light. In spite of
the comparatively large consumption of oil the ancient lamp gave forth
only a weak light, though it was warm in its colouring. It smokes and
smoulders excessively, owing to the insufficient supply of air and the
comparatively low inflammability of the oil. Juvenal (a.d. 60-140) says
(VII, 222) that the fumes of the lamp brought in by boys blackened the
busts of Horace and Virgil in the schoolroom. The lamp needed constant
attention. On account of the air-supply being insufficient the wicks
deposited oil-soot which had to be removed by snuffing with the above-
mentioned small tongs. The oil used in the lamps was olive, castor,
rapeseed or linseed oil ; the castor oil gave only a weak flame. Petroleum
(naphtha) is said to have been used in Babylonia. Tallow is also used,
being poured as a liquid into the lamp, where it solidifies. Herodotus
(II, 62) talks of salt having been added to the oil. The idea of this
admixture of salt probably was to remove the danger of the oil or tallow
catching fire. This danger did naturally exist for the open lamps and was
not altogether excluded in the case of those provided with lids, on account
of the large openings made to admit the wicks.
Salt was supposed to counteract the excessive heating of the oil or
tallow. In the Middle Ages sand was also added to tallow for the same
purpose. Thus it is likely that this habit was already practised in
antiquity and continued into the Middle Ages. As the lamps were never ^
extinguished, for superstitious reasons, but left till they ceased glimmering
and went out, the oil-supply was accurately measured off according to
the duration of lighting and so at the same time served for measuring time.
The working time in mines, for instance, was ascertained in this way. The
wick used to be made of papyrus, pith from rushes, flax, hemp, the leaves
^An over-statement. There was an ancient Roman prejudice against doing
so, Plutarch, quaestiones Romanos 75, qiMsst. conuiu., p. 7020. — Trans.
LIGHTING
243
of Vefhascum Linn., parts of the castor-oil plant (said to give forth a
particularly good light) and of asbestos, which was frequently imagined
to be a sort of flax {e.g. Pausanias i, 26, 7, O^aXXlg Xivov Kaqnaaiov, i.e.
from Karpasia in Cyprus).
Candles were used in two forms, one of them resembling the torch,
wliere the fibrous substance predominated, and the other form showing a
likeness to modern candles ; the mass of the wick was very small com-
pared with that of the combustible matter. According to Niemann,
whose statements we are following in our discussion, the wick of the
latter kind consisted of the pith of a species of papyrus [scirpus), whereas
the wick of the former kind, which resembled torches, was twisted together
Fig, 319. — Big Greek Bronze Candlestick I'ig. 320. — Upper part (socket) of a
Berlin, Alles Museum, Antiquarium Greek Candlestick, Fig. 319
of the fibres of the papyrus plant, or of other fibres. Wax or tallow was
used as combustible matter. Candles were not cast, as is done nowadays.
The wick [QQ’oaXXlg, filnm) was first of all impregnated with sulphur and
then repeatedly dipped in liquid tallow or wax, a process designated by
the special technical term ‘ candelas sebare which means ‘ to tallow
candles.' Wax used for the making of candles was prepared with special
care from honeycombs that had been cleaned in water and dried for three
days. Afterwards the wax was pressed out and boiled in water in a bronze
or clay vessel It was then filtered through a texture of rush and boiled
once more in the same water mixed with fresh cold water. Finally it was
METHODS OF PRODUCING FIRE
bleached by repeated boiling with sea-water and dried in the open air.
Candles were differentiated into tallow candles, wax candles {candelae
sebaceae and candelae cereae), and a special kind with only one wick, the
most frequently used, candelae simplices. Candles were burned in candle-
sticks or candelabra, resembling in many ways those of to-day. They
were furnished with spikes or sockets and made of clay, bronze or wood
(Figs. 319-322). ■ The socket has frequently an aperture to facilitate the
Fig. 321. —
Etruscan Candel-
abrum with hori-
zontal spikes for
fixing the candles
Fig. 322. — Boy
with Torch.
Bronze candel-
abrum with
socket. Pompeii
Fig. 323. — ^Lantern from Herculaneum
Left (i), with closed top. Right (2), cross-section with
lifted top. (3) One of the supports on which the top
rests, with rine for the chains from which the lantern is
suspended. (4) Top from above, showing air-holes which
allow the smoke to escape. As (a) shows, the lid of the
removal of the candle ends. Some candelabra found in the camp at
Saalburg are constructed in a particularly practical way, as both ends
may be used. They are furnished with sockets of different diameters
so that candles of different thickness may be used.
The panes of the lanterns (Fig. 323) consisted either of oiled canvas or
of animal bladder, but mostly of horn, which was shaved until the neces-
sary degree of transparency was reached. It was not till a.d. 400 that
glass panes were used for lanterns. The origin of the lantern is the woven
basket into which the lamp was placed, in order to protect the flame from
the rain and wind, as is mentioned by Aristophanes (450-385 b.c.) in his
comedy The Acharnians.
STREET-LIGHTING
All the above-mentioned methods of lighting were almost exclusively
used in the house, for there was no street-lighting in ancient times. Nor
was it necessary, as people went to bed very early and, as a rule, got up at
dawn. Whoever wMked the streets in the dark had to use a servant as
torch- or lantern-bearer or carry a li^ht himself, as, for instance, the Roman
LIGHTHOUSES
^45
jnipils who started in tlie dark in order to be at school by sunrise. Streets
or single squares were only illuminated for great festivities and that was
done with firebrands kindled in basins specially placed there. The .sub-
stance burned in them was pitch, resin, asphalt, resinous wood, or a
mixture of all. Moreover, torches were stuck in the various torch-holes
or candelabra. Conditions did not change during the reigns of the Roman
emperors ; even when the night-life of Rome made considerable progress
the streets remained unlighted as before. On the other hand, towards the
end of the fourth century a.d. in various towns of the Near East it seems
to have become the custom to illuminate the streets at night. Libanius
(a.d. 314-393), as well as the Father of the Church, S. Jerome (a.d,
345-420), report that in Antioch in Syria streets were lighted up at night.
The illumination of Antioch was effected by oil lamps hung up on ropes
over the streets. Also, Caesarea in Cappadocia must have had a similar
system of lighting, as is seen from remarks of Basil the Great, in the
year a.d. 371.
LIGHTHOUSES
Much more advanced than the system of lighting streets was the
illumination in lighthouses, of which a great number were erected in
antiquity. It has often been assumed that in the times of Homer fire-
stations were established on the coasts {Odyssey, X, 30 ; Iliad, XVIII,
207-213, XIX, 375-377), where faggots were burned on special watch-
towers to produce the light necessary for safeguarding navigation.
According to more recent investigations by Hennig, however, they have to
be regarded as beacons for calling up reinforcements or as accidental
fires. The question whether there were beacon-fires in the time of
Homer — ^which can be solved only from philological data — does not
appear to be sufficiently cleared up at present, but the assumption that
beacons were used for assisting navigation in very ancient times seems
quite natural, as the idea of indicating in this way the place of landing to
sailors overtaken by darkness would very readily suggest itself. In the
course of time these watch-towers grew higher and more magnificent.
Some of them became world-renowned, such as the lighthouse which was
built at Alexandria (299-280 b.c.) at the cost of 800 talents, equivalent to
£180,000 ; it was constructed of white marble and had several stories,
on the terraces of which people could easily walk about (Pliny, XXXVI,
12, 83; Caesar, De hell. civ. Ill, 112 ; Lucan, Pharsalia, IX, 1004;
Strabo, Geographica, XVII, i, 6). According to Hehnig’s thorough
investigations, the lighthouse of Alexandria served first of all as a day-
signal for navigation, and it was not till after a.d, 41 and before a.d. 65
that the Romans turned it into a lighthouse.
The same author regards the lighthouse of Ostia, dating from a.d. 42,
as the oldest genuine lighthouse in the world. There are, however, only
scant records in existence about thelighting-equipment of these old light-
houses. But in all probability it consisted mostly of open fires burning
in the air without a lantern. For instance, the Jewish author Josephus
METHODS OF PRODUCING FIRE
Fig. 324. — ^The Lighthouse of Alexandria (reconstructed)
LIGHTHOUSES
247
(a.d. 37-95) (5iog, VI, 105) says that on the lighthouse of Alexandria an
open wood-fire was kept alight by specially appointed watchmen. Accord-
ing to the same report of Josephus this fire could be seen at a distance of
300 stadia (about 36 miles). The picture of such a fire showing the har-
bour of Ostia and its lighthouse, constructed by the Emperor Claudius,
near the mouth of the Tiber at Ostia, is
still preserved in a relief. A high open
flame is seen burningpn the top landing
of the tower, built in several stories with
terraces. Probably the fuel was of
wood mixed or saturated with tar, resin
Fig. 323.— The Lighthouse of
Alexandria on an Alexandrian
Medal
The illustration is regarded by Geitel and
others as probably correct, at least as re-
gards the exterior of the tower. Above,
images of gods
Fig. 326. — Roman Lighthouse :
‘ Torre di Hercules ’ at Corunna
(Brigantium)
The lighthouse is still in use. Fonnerly it
had an outside spiral staircase, the traces
of which are still to be seen in the
masonry. It was probably erected in the
reign of the Emperor Trajan, about a.d. loo
or asphalt. The lighting power, however, of such open fires, whose light
was collected neither by reflectors nor by lenses, can hardly have been
as great as Josephus indicates above. Such luminosity can only be
attained by modern methods, and even then only by intense sources
of light ; and at the distance stated by Josephus it is not the source
itself that can be seen but only the reflection of the flashes.
HEATING
HEATING MATERIALS
The heating materials used in antiquity were wood, charcoal, coal,
a kind of briquettes, and peat. The last three of these and also the dried
reeds sometimes used were only of secondary importance. Briquettes, men-
tioned by Theophrastus {De ign, 37), were used only for special technical
purposes, particularly for working up metal, and were made by pressing
together charcoal, pitch or tar serving as cement. Coal was not em-
ployed at all in the countries on the Mediterranean. Like the closely-
248 METHODS OF PRODUCING FIRE
related lignite, it was burnt only in isolated places (where it happened to be
found) such as the districts of the Ruhr and the Sarre, as well as in Great
Britain. The same is the case with peat. It was entirely unknown to
Southern peoples as fuel, and the Romans must have seen it in use for the
first time when they came into contact with the Teutons. Thus Pliny
reports of the Chauci on the coast of the North Sea that ' they weave nets
with rushes from their swamps, the mud of which they form with their
hands and dry it in the wind rather than the sun. They cook their food
over a fire made of this mud and warm their limbs, stiffened with the cold
of the North We shall therefore limit our discussion to the two most
important kinds of fuels of antiquity, wood and charcoal. There is little
to be said about wood: It was gathered wherever it was found. Whole
forests were felled at random for obtaining fuel or for technical purposes
without preparing a new supply by reafforestation. Even to-day we find
traces of this abuse of forests customary among the Romans. A striking
example is met with in the Karst Mountains. This vast expanse was once
upon a time thickly covered with forests, but was completely ravaged by
the Romans in order to provide fuel or wood for building ships and houses.
After the mountain had been cleared the roots of the trees were no longer
there to hold the earth together and so it was carried off by the wind or
washed away by the rain. And at the present day this extensive tract of
land, originally rich in forests, is nothing more than bleak and barren
masses of rock. The method of felling and chopping trees has been dealt
with above. (See the section on the Procuring of Wood.)
In ancient times charcoal was probably an even more popular fuel than
wood. It was already being used at the time of Homer, as is clearly
proved by a passage in the Iliad (IX, 212) :
' Then when tlie fire was burnt down and the flame waned
He levelled the embers and laid the spits thereover.'
The preparation of charcoal was a very important trade and the com-
munity of charcoal-burners was very large and widespread. All kinds of
wood were used for charring ; the less favoured were some species of oak
and the box-tree, because they did not supply a good quality of charcoal.
The process was carried out in the same way as to-day, namely in kilns.
In order to exclude the air as much as possible from its interior, the kiln
was piled up from layers of smooth logs, closely put together, with little
space between them for the air. Then the kiln, which was hemispherical
in form, was covered with earth and set on fire. During the process of
charring, long poles were thrust into the kiln to secure an outlet for the
smoke and fumes. It is not known whether the earlier kilns had a vertical
channel in the centre, as was often the case in later times. Many kilns
were piled up in a special way. They were furnished with a drain at the
bottom in order to collect tar from the upper layers of wood by a process of
dry distillation. In these upper layers the air supply was even more
restricted than in ordinary kilns, so that no oxidation could take place.
Wherever the faintest trace of such oxidation was observed, that is as a
HEATING
flame rising from the kiln, it was at once covered and choked with earth.
For this purpose~as well as for w^atching the kiln-some ladders were
kept in readiness near by. The tar, being unable to escape upwards,
flowed down into a cavity and was collected there. It was then put into
coppers and boiled, while vinegar was added in order to prepare ' Bruttian
pitch ’ (Pliny, XVI, 52), a substance used for pitching casks. Pitch was
also used for coating the inner side of wine amphorae, for tarring ships, and
for painting the roofs in order to render them waterproof ; in short, it
served in its original form fairly much the same purposes as to-day. For
the rest, it was prepared not only in kilns but also in special furnaces
probably similar to the ‘ muffle furnaces ’, from which they differed in one
respect only ; they had no waste-pipe to allow the products of dry distil-
lation to escape upwards, but, as mentioned earlier, they probably had a
groove into which the tar flowed off.
FIREPLACES : VARIETIES OF HEARTH
Of all the various fireplaces, i.e. places used for burning fuel, the hearth
was the oldest and most widespread in antiquity. As is shown by pre-
historic finds, it has developed as follows. The fire was a precious posses-
sion needing great care and attention, for it could be rekindled only with
great difficulty. In order to protect it from rain and particularly from
Fig$. 327 and 328. — Olde.'St forms of the Hearth
onsisting of a hole dug In the ground without a stone^ inlng. Found at Lobositz on the Elbe,
t a similar kind with a lining of stones. Found at Platkow on the Oder. Deptli of (.-ach aboiii
3 ft. Reproduced from models in the Deutsches Museum, Munich
i.eft ; Fireplace co-
ight : Fireplace of
wind, a hole was dug in the ground at the point where the fire was made up.
This hole is the oldest form of the hearth (Figs. 327, 328, 329) unless we
give precedence to the fact that people frequently contented, themselves
with protecting the fire by placing stones around it, an arrangement which
also made it possible and convenient to roast certain kinds of food, such as
meat (Fig. 330) . This kind of hearth, which lies on the ground, is still in
use among savage tribes. As human civilization progressed, however.
METHODS OF PRODUCING FIRE
Fig. 329. — Hearth with Seat dug out of the ground
The widening at the fire-hole (at the bottom of the picture) at the same time provides a seat, and
origin of the human dwelling. Found at Grossgartach
HEATING 351
and Man gradually gave up Ms squatting position on the ground to assume
a sitting or standing posture, the hearth was correspondingly elevated.
Stones were piled up and the fire was kindled on top of them (Figs. 331,
332) . This fundamental form of hearth is found in antiquity in numerous
modifications. Sometimes it was a simple piece of masonry with a flat
top on which the fire was burning, and sometimes it had a raised ledge or
was merely a pile of stones gathered from the fields and held together
by a framework of wooden rafters (Fig. 333).
Just as varied as the forms of fire-places were the devices for supporting
the kettle and other cooking vessels over the fire. Sometimes the hearth
had a deep groove or pit for the fire. The vessels are either placed on the
edge of the pit or on tripods, sometimes they are hung up on hooks ; or
again, strangely shaped hollow stones of cubic or polygonal form with
openings in the side or top are used.
The pot for cooking is placed on the
hole in the top and is warmed by the
flames shooting from outside through
the lateral holes up to the bottom of
the pot. All the excavations have
revealed one or other of these forms of
fireplaces, and sometimes several
varieties have been found together, as
the case in the camp of Saalburg.
All these fireplaces blackened the
rooms in which they were situated with smoke, and the principal room
in the Roman house, containing the hearth originally, received its name
from the smoke [ater = black) and was called atrium.
There were no chunneys, not even in Pompeii, although this has often
been maintained erroneously. The baker's oven alone had pipes to lead
away the fumes. Pipes for getting rid of the smoke came only with
central heating. When people wished to prevent their dwellings from
getting blackened they used as their fuel not wood but charcoal.
Fig. 333.' — Hearth made of field-
stones, held together by a frame of
rafters
Fig. 332, — ^Hearth made of pilecl-up stones
Found at Buob, Mark of Brandenburg. Markisches MUiseuin, Berlin
METHODS OF PRODUCING FIRE
252
BRAZIERS AND THEIR DERIVED FORMS
However important a role the fireplace played in human life it had
one great disadvantage : it was immovable. When it was needed for
purposes other than cooking food, such as for heating a room, it failed
when the habitation consisted of more than one room. For this reason it
was replaced by a new device which no longer served the double purpose of
heating and cooking, but was used for heating alone. This new article of
furniture was the coal- pan or brazier. In antiquity it was widely used
as a heating apparatus in many different forms : indeed, it was sometimes
an object of great artistic merit. It has, however, the same disadvantage
as the hearth : it allows parts of the waste- products of combustion to
escape into the rooms, even if there are chimneys specially built
for them. But apart from this the brazier must be regarded as a
good method of heating, although the consensus of opinion is that its
heating power must have been insufficient. Various facts contradict this
view — in the first place, the statements of certain people, such as
Winckelmann, who became acquainted with the braziers still customary in
Southern countries, and spoke highly of their efficiency. Again, certain
discoveries such as those made at the tepidarium of the men's baths in
the forum of Pompeii prove that braziers of this kind were capable of
heating very large rooms. And lastly it has been shown by Krell's
thorough investigations that rooms of a considerable size can be heated
with comparatively small braziers. KreU writes as follows : ' The brazier
found in the tepidarium of the baths in the forum of Pompeii, standing in
the place where it was originally used, has a heating surface of 7 ft. 8 in.
by 2 ft. 8 in. It is quite sufficient even at the lowest winter temperature
to heat a large church with a seating accommodation for over two thousand
people, such as the Church of S. Egidius in Nuremberg.' Exhaustive
researches have also been carried out as to whether the atmosphere of the
rooms became polluted by the use of ancient braziers to a degree injurious
to human health. The result may briefly be summarized as follows :
The only gas produced in moderately warmed rooms is carbon dioxide.
Carbon monoxide only develops at high temperatures, and the quantity
increases with the rise in temperature. Starting from these facts, the first
problem was to find out whether the content of carbon dioxide could
increase to a dangerous limit. According to KreU, this question must be
answered in the negative. Even if we assume that a bath-room with a
volume of 450 cubic yards is to be heated from 0° C. to 60° C. with a supply of
36,800 units of heat per hour from 11^2 lb. of coal having a heating power
of 3,231 units of heat per pound, the air will contain only 2*3 per cent, of
carbon dioxide if it is renewed once an hour. It is true that Pettenkofer
formerly allowed a much smaller percentage of carbon dioxide in the air
used for respiration (namely, one part by volume?%f carbon dioxide in
1,000 parts by volume of air), but more recent research by Emmerich and
Lehmann shows that the effect of a per cent, of carbon dioxide is not
harmful even if this amount occasionally increases to as much as 6 per
HEATING
253
cent, or even 12 per cent. For the rest, the. difference of 60° in
temperature as stated above is much too large. If normal conditions
are taken as a basis it is shown that in a room of 336 cubic yards, for
instance, the percentage of atmospheric carbon dioxide is 0-47 per cent. ;
the effect of this amount on human health cannot be detrimental. In
Krell’s opinion danger can arise only in very small rooms that have been
tightly closed. The position is different, however, as regards carbon mon-
oxide. It is true that Eckardt has been able to show the presence of only
a trace of this gas in his experiments, which were made with a coal-pan 14
in. long and 10 in. wide and a layer of charcoal to 6 in. thick. But the
present author, while engaged on research on the history of poisoning by
carbon monoxide, has been able to collect numerous reports of ancient
authors themselves about the dangers of using such braziers owing to
the possibility of their causing asphyxia. Among the ancient reports
worth mentioning are those of Lucretius 1 (96-55 b.c.), Galen (131-200
A.D.), Erasistratos (about 300 a.d.) and of the Emperor Julian the
Apostate, who reigned from a.d. 361 to 363. It has been shown that,
on the whole, ancient braziers could be regarded as harmless if the
Figs. 334 and 335. — Chafing-Dishes of bronze for boiling water and keeping food hot
Found at Pompeii
layer of coal burned on them did not exceed a thickness of 6 in.,
and if the temperature was kept low. Considering the great popularity
of these braziers the conclusion may be drawn that the ancients well
knew how to manage them, that is, how to regulate the depth of
coal and the temperature. On the other hand, it mu.st be concluded
that the manifold accounts of poisoning by coal gas due to the use of
braziers prove how dangerous they were when handled incorrectly.
The coal-pan had, then, the advantage over the hearth that it could be
removed from one room to another. But its disadvantage was that it did
not allow food to be cooked on it. For this reason a contrivance was
sought which combined those two amenities ; so a coal-pan was invented
which enabled hot drinks such as the much-favoured mulled wine called
calduni to be boiled on it, and also served to keep food warm. Braziers
of this kind, on which food was heated by means of hot water, were found
at Pompeii : they were very artistically executed, Overbeck describes
them as follows :
' Like other sorts of coal-pans they consist of a fire-grate or plate bordered by
a rim, but tliis rim was double, closed at the top and formed into a groove around
which water could run, It is obvious that the water in it was quickly warmed
when the brazier was filled witli gldwiiig coals, and the food placed in dishes on
the heated rim was thus kept wanU. . ^6 heat rising from the brazier may have
contributed to the same purpose., ,At the same time the boiling water could be
re/mm mtura, vi, 802,
254 METHODS OF PRODUCING FIRE
drawn from a tap and made use of. This contrivance is shown in all its simplicity
in the drawing of Fig. 335, which shows a daintily adorned brazier, and that of
Fig. 334, representing a slightly improved specimen. The latter resembles a little
fortress crowned with battlements, a form which was particularly popular as an
ornament for chafin g- dish es . In each of the four corners a crenellated turret rises up
covered with a hinged lid. If a lid was opened, as seen on one of the turrets on
the figure, a vessel with gravy could be placed directly into the hot water, or the
water could be drawn from the tap seen on the left.'
A still more remarkable contrivance was a brazier and hearth com-
Fig. 336. — ^Perspective view and vertical section of a compound Brazier
Found at Pompeii
bined. In Fig. 336 one of these is shown in perspective and in cross-
section. The plate for firing supports a semicircular coal-pan which is
open in the front and has double walls containing
hot water. Its upper edge is adorned with three
swans on which is placed the kettle for boiling.
Thus the coal fire simultaneously heats the water
and the contents of the vessel carried by the swans.
The heat is concentrated by the specially shaped
coal-pan, to which there is easy access by the verti-
cal aperture in the front. The semicircular boiler,
which empties through a tap, communicates with
a barrel-shaped container provided with a hinged
lid and a spout in the form of a mask near the
brim. This device made it possible to Warm a
quantity of water even larger than that in the
hollow walls of the semicircular boiler. The spout
near the brim allows the steam to escape. Caldum,
a mixture of wine, honey and water, is prepared
in vessels provided with an internal bronze pipe. In
mixture the bronze pipe is filled with live coals
Fig. 337. — ^Vessel for
preparing caldtm
Spacft A contains the Equid.
B is the bronze pipe filled
with glowing coals. L and
M, metal pipes oi the grate
through whicli the liquid
from A circulates. (See Fig.
340.) Found at Pompeii
order to boil the
HEATING 255
through a lid, A similar system, has recently come into use again in
refrigerating machines. , Some of the glass vessels employed in these
machines closely resemble the Pompeian containers. The pipe, how-
ever, is no longer filled with glowing coal nowadays, but with icc.
STOVES
Fixed stoves were unknown to the ancients, but they turned the coal-
pan into a kind of portable stove by closing in the fire on all sides, A stove
of this description found at Pompeii consists of a metal cylinder with a
stove hole and stands on three legs
shaped like a lion's paws (Fig.
338). A little over half-way up
the metal cylinder there are two
apertures masked with lions’
heads. They admit the supply of
air necessary for maintaining the
fire inside. ' Since the upper part
of the stove contains a copper it
is obvious that the apparatus was
used both for ordinary heating
and for boiling water. A model in
the Deutsches Museum at Munich
represents an ancient Greek
portable stove the fragments of
which were found in the sea. The original contained a plate pierced
with hollows for the fire, that is, a kind of fire-grate, fixed in the upper
part of the stove (Fig. 339), The lower section of the cylinder is
pierced with numerous holes to ensure a sufficient supply of air for the
coal-fire. It also serves as a receptacle for the ashes falling tlirough the
grate. Technically speaking it was something intermediate between a
brazier and a stove.
A grate is also seen in a Pompeian kettle (Fig. 340) simultaneously
Fig. 339. — Vertical section of an ancient
Greek portable Stove
Model in the Deutsches Museum, Munich
Fig. 338. — Pompeian Portable Stove
Fig, 341,— Germanic Stove with. Grate, dating from
the La Ttoe period
Foiind at Oberlalinstein
256 METHODS OF PRODUCING FIRE
used for boiling water and for heating. Since it was not furnished with a
tap the water had to be scooped out with a ladle. A comparatively large
surface was created for heating by giving the fire-box the shape of a vault.
In front it had a stoke-hole, and at the back a small opening which allowed
the fumes and gases to escape. It is
particularly noteworthy that the bars
of the grate consisted of pipes cooled
by water flowing to and from the sur-
rounding boiler. This arrangement pre-
vented the bars from being burnt
through, as often happens with ordin-
ary grates. Grate bars of this kind are
also found in the above-mentioned
vessel used for preparing caUum (Fig.
337) . The fire-funnel of this vessel is
turned backwards and thus the caldim
can be poured off without the coals fall-
ing out. The ashes fall through the
bars of the grate on to a tray which is
supported by an artistic tripod. For the
rest, the Germanic tribes seem to have
known the grate before the Romans.
In any case a stove (Fig. 341) has been
found at Oberlahnstein cut in a deposit
of clay. According to the reports of Dragendorff and Bodewig it dates
from the La T6ne period (400-1 b.c.), ‘its walls being made of burnt
material hard as brick.
The vertical cylinder
opens out towards the
top like a chalice or
cup. In its centre there
is a pillar 22 in. high and
14 to 16 in. thick with
about ten arms at the
top forming a kind of
grate. The fire-hole is
formed like the Roman
praefurnia (see below).
The numerous sherds
found date from the
late La Tene period.
The large circular sur-
face could take several
vessels simultaneously
and the stove thus did
the service of a large kitchen range, and so was a great improvement
on the earlier fireplaces and crudely-built hearths of stone so far dis-
covered/
000000
Fig. 340. — Kettle with cylindrical
grate bars
Found at Pompeii
HEATING
257
HEATING LARGE MASSES OF WATER
For the heating of large masses of water, such as for baths, peculiar
contrivances were used of which those at Pompeii are particularly well
preserved. The method of using them and their mode of action is still a
controversial matter. We shall therefore first review the various con-
flicting theories proposed before stating our own opinion, which was
arrived at as a result of manifold studies carried out on the very spot.
The question at issue is the construction of the boilers used for heating the
water in the baths in the women's caldarium of the Stabian thermae at
Pompeii (Fig. 342) . Jacobi says : ' The horizontal boiler, made of bronze
plates about -3 in. thick, riveted together, is vaulted at the top and flat at the
bottom, which is over the fire-room. Its height in the vertical section is
22 in., its width 2 ft. 6 in., and its length 5 ft, 10 in. One end of the
boiler is closed, the other opens into the front wall of the bath, which is
nearly 16 ft. long, 6 ft. 5 in. wide, and just over 2 ft. deep. The flat
bottom of the boiler lies 6 in. below the bottom of the bath, cau.siiig the
water to circulate freely between the bath and the boiler.’
f f i»“
Fig, 342. — Boiler in the Caldarium of the ladies’ bath in the Stabian Thermae at Pompeii
A, Bath. B, Boiler. D, Fire-room
‘■"Both, Overbeck and Man as well as Jacobi,' says Krell, ‘ are of the
opinion that the hot fumes produced by the burning fuel-pan pass under-
neath the boiler and the stone bath and after that enter the hollow floor,
walls and ceiling of the caldarium and tepidarium, and so heat them.’
The objection that Krell raises to these views is that an arrangement
of this kind would necessarily have destroyed the basin of the bath, which
was hned with White marble ; but it looks quite new even at the present
time. In another connection he points out that no firing took place
underneath the floor under consideration. Wliat was alleged to be a
heating-plant, he says, was merely a contrivance for drying the rooms.
Finally he maintains that the heating would have had to be started not
less than twenty-four hours before bathing-time, if the water was to be
warm. Krell's theory is that the boiler was heated simply by placing
glowing charcoal in the fire-space below, that the air was sucked from
underneath the bath and from between the walls into the fire-space in
order to be dried, and that from this space it streamed into the adjacent
fire of the main boiler, which was probably heated with wood.
T.A.S , — 17
258 METHODS OF PRODUCING FIRE
We pass over sundry other systems of heating baths which are still
under discussion, such as the method by which the bath in the Villa
Rustica of Boscoreale near Pompeii is heated, and about which investi-
gations are still proceeding. It is useless to quote the various hypotheses
put forward, particularly as the study of the pictures is hardly likely to
bring the solution of the problem nearer. It is altogether doubtful if the
problem can be solved at all, since the excavators have in many cases
thoroughly removed all the evidence. If a solution can be obtained at all
it will be only, as we shall presently show, by means of an accurate
chemical or microscopical investigation, such as has not yet been possible
to the required degree.
THE PROBLEM OF CENTRAL HEATING
Ancient central-heating comprises all those contrivances in which one
fireplace either served to heat several rooms at the same time or in view
of its construction was capable of doing so, even if they were separated
from the fire-room. The apparatus for heating will be treated here from
the hitherto accepted point of view. It must be borne in mind, how-
ever, that the problem involved has not yet been solved. The position is
as follows : In many cases the rooms supposedly meant to be heated are
built directly over a hollow space. Their floors are supported by columns
made of bricks. The walls are also provided with hollow spaces which are
obtained by placing together hollow tiles in such a way as to form channels.
All these hollows and channels are in communication with the fire-room.
Whereas the archaeologists not specially trained in technical science allege
that all these constructions are forms of central-heating, Otto Krell,
senior, a specialist in this branch of science, points out in his noteworthy
descriptions that constructions of the above kind are by no means always
apparatus for heating, and particularly not in the case of baths. He
admits that there are contrivances of this type which may be claimed as
instances of central-heating ; they are the so-called hypocausts, some of
which are in an excellent state of preservation. As for many others,
however, he contends that they cannot have been heated by a fire under-
neath the floor, because the small columns supporting the floor were
frequently made of limestone and plaster, a material which is by no means
fire-proof. On the other hand, the floor on them is often of such thickness
that it would have been entirely impenetrable to a fire kindled under-
neath. Lastly, Krell remarks that one would expect to find traces of
ashes, soot and the like. He therefore comes to the conclusion that the
constructions in question are not examples of central-heating but simply
means of drying the rooms above. The present author himself visited
some such establishments at Rome, Pompeii, Herculaneum, Fiesole, at
Saalburg, at Trfeves and Badenweiler and elsewhere, carefully examining
separate items in various museums.
These studies lead to the further remark that a fire kindled beneath a
thick floor would often have caused it to crack. In view of the slow
conduction of heat through such a thick floor there is reason to assume
HEATING
259
that the excessive heat on the one side and the cold on the other would
necessarily have caused tensions in the masonry sufficient to make it
crack or break. In addition, traces of carbon, soot and the like ought to
have been found, as Krell rightly remarks. But the author has not
been able to discover any such traces either ; nor does he feel that par-
ticular importance is to be attached to this minor point. The excavators
have generally endeavoured to set up the constructions as tidily as
possible, and have therefore cleaned the places very thoroughly. If any
traces of the above kind had existed at all they are sure to have been
removed for good. It has often happened, indeed, in order to obtain
as beautiful and clean a specimen as possible excavators took out
the tiles, scraped and cleaned them with corrosives, and then built them
up once more. On the strength of all these facts the author sums up his
views as follows ; the construction in question is in all probability intended
for drying, and in this respect reseml)les the modern system of double
walls or isolating walls used for protecting buildings from the damp out-
side. The air circulated between the double walls and so prevented the
moisture from invading the main walls, or else led it out. The process
of draining off the moisture may have been carried out by a fire to which
the air was convected and made to circulate between the walls, as is the
case with the .Stabian thermae mentioned above.
In any case it would be unwise to reject Krell's views without further
discussion, as has been done by Anthes, Brauweiler and others. Fusch,
who also studied the problem in all its details, asserts that the hypocaust,
originally used only for heating tubs, was subsequently also employed
for central-heating in baths and villas. In order to attain absolute
certainty, however, the present author maintains that chemical and
microscopical investigations would have to be carried out to see whether
there are any traces of charcoal-fires in the pores of the brilliantly polished
tiles and stones. Substances to be claimed as traces of this kind would be
particles of carbon and certain products of the distillation of wood, such
as creosote, which are not liable to change. The author hopes soon to be
able to give a report on exhaustive investigations carried out along these
lines,
HEATING BY HYPOCAUSTS
The system of central heating has been met with only among the
Romans, and the oldest form of it is undoubtedly the method of heating
by hypocausts, whose inventor is said to have been C. Sergius Grata.
The term hypocaust seems first to occur in Statius [Sil. i, 5, 59) ; hypo-
causis, a furnace, is found in Vitruvius, who describes this mode of
heating in all details in connection with the construction of baths
(V, 10) ; this description and its alleged defects have been thoroughly
discussed by Krell. The hypocaust consists of a hollow space below the
floor of the room to be heated, and in most cases extends the whole length
and breadth of the room above. The floor lies some 3 ft. above the ground
and is supported by brick pillars whose upper parts widen to a kind of
capital. These capitals consist of projecting tiles the uppermost of which
Fig. 345. — Praefurnium of an
ancient Roman heating apparatus
It lies in the open air outside the building.
On the right and left of the stoke-hole are
implements for heating and cleaning the fire-
place. Found at Saalburg Castle
Fig. 344.—- Hypocausts at Treves. The
floor is of great thickness and rests upon
brick pillars resembling capitals
room also contain hollow spaces, which form as it were a continuation of
the empty space below the floor. Hollow tiles {tubuU) of square cross-
section were used for this purpose up to a height of 5 ft. above the
floor or as high as the roof, in which case they provide an outlet for the
smoke (Fig. 346). Instead of these, other tiles were sometimes used
provided with bosses [teguke mammatae) and fixed to the walls with iron
260 METHODS OF PRODUCING FIRE
sometimes touch the corresponding tiles of the adjacent pillars. These
tiles carry the actual floor (Figs. 343 and 344). The fire-chamber lies
outside the building and communicates with the above hollow space
through a channel which corresponds to the flue or snore-hole in modern
industrial establishments for heating. In front of the fire-chamber there
Fig. 343. — Hypocaust in the Roman theatre in Fiesole. The thicknes.s of the floor is
striking and makes it doubtful whether it wa.s heated directly. (See page 258)
is a kind of roofless ante-room also sunk into the ground and reached by a
few steps.
From this open room, called the praefurnium, the fire is kindled and kept
up in the fire- chamber, and the daily supply of fuel is piled up here (Fig.
345), The smoke and fumes, pass-
ing through the hollow space under
the floor, eventually escape through
pipes in the sides.
In many cases the walls of a
HEATING
261
clamps. Occasionally an opening closed with a plate is found in the floor.
Through it the hot air contained in the hypocaust was allowed to enter
the room after the flue had been closed and the fire had gone out. It is
doubtful whether this opening was also used to enter the hypocaust
below for purposes of cleaning or repairing, as is assumed by Jacobi
(see the description of the hypocaust at Saalburg, given below) .
If people did go down that way they must have been obliged to crawl
FiCr. 346. — Details of construc-
tion of the hypocau.sts and the
channelled walls
A, Pillars of ashlar tapering towards the
niuUlle so as to form a passage for the
waste giises of combustion. The lowest
I)art of the floor consists of two layers of
flat bricks. B, Pillars of cylindrical
bricks. Lowest part of the floor is the
same as in A. C, Brick pillars carrying
a flwr the lowest part of which cotisists of
a simple layer of large llat bricks. Tiles
with bosses [kgiilae mammal u) are visible
in the walls. D, Brick pillars each
covered by a large, slab in order to counter-
balance and uniformly distribute, the
pressure of the floor above. The lower
portion of the floor is made of a simple
layer of large flat bricks and is supported
by pillars whose capitals consist of a
common projecting plate. Hooked tikss
(iegulae hamatae) are seen in the walls. K,
Pillars, each made of two convex or ridge
tiles carrying a plate in order to extend the
supported surface of the floor. F, The
lower portion of the floor consists of
reversed roof-tiles laid with the flat side
downwards. Above on the right is shown a
nail used for fastening the tegulae hamatae.
A horisontal channel conducting hot air
leads along the wall, underneath the floor,
into the vertical tubuli-channels of the
wall; an arrangement specially built for
economizing the heat. G, Tubuli-pillars.
The floor is a simple layer of large flat
tiles. The walls are provided with tubuli
whose lateral holes allow the heated air to
spread. H, I, K, Systems of waste-pipes
and chimneys, which can be distinguished
by tlie fact that the waste-pipes show no
traces of soot. The lower part of the
floor in I and J is a double layer of flat
tiles.
between the pillars in a very uncomfortable position, the hypocaust being
hardly 2 ft. 6 in. in height.
The pipe connecting the fire- chamber and the hollow space under
the floor was sometimes provided with lateral orifices admitting fresh
air which mixed with the overheated air inside before it entered the
rooms above through the openings in the floor.
It is impossible to describe in all detail the numerous systems of
hypocausts. Heating apparatus of this class have been found in the
course of time in all the parts of the world once inhabited by Romans.
At Treves, Pompeii, Herculaneum, Saalburg and many other places,
a great number have been discovered. , The best preserved is in the last-
mentioned place. It was excavated in the so-called ‘ civilian settle-
ment ' in front of the porta decunmm. The author's photographs (Figs.
The darkest spot of the picture is the mouth of the fire-chamber, the
stoke-hole :
262 METHODS OF PRODUCING FIRE
347, 348, as well as a plan (Fig. 349) of this heating apparatus are seen
below. Jacobi describes
it as follows : —
'The front space or
praefurnium of the hypo -
caust is sunk 2 ft. 8 in.
in the ground and lies
5 ft. from the building.
It is 4 ft. 8 in. long and
4 feet 4 in. wide. Two
steps II in. high lead
down to it. On the
opposite side is the mouth
of the plant, the stoke-
hole some 14 in. high and
8 in. wide (Fig. 349).’
' Behind the stoke-hole
are two elliptical bulges
shaped like baking-ovens.
One of them lies outside
the structure and is
covered with large basalt
stones and earth.'
' In this space, the
‘snore-hole,’ charcoal was
set on fire. This arrangement proves that the Romans made
efforts to protect the brick
pillars from direct destruc-
tive contact with the red
heat radiating from the
coal-fire. The hot gases
alone were allowed to
spread between them.'
(Jacobi is wrong here, in
the author's opinion, as
this space is used in indus-
trial establishments to
increase and regulate the
air supply for firing.)
‘The bottom of the
fire-chamber ascends from
the stoke-hole to the flues
on the opposite sides.
The hypocaust proper con-
sists of six rows of eight
pillars 2 ft. 6 in. high. 348, — ^praefurnium of the hypocaust in Fig. 347
The most remarkable of
them are those stand-
the Civilian Settlement
near Saalburg
oor IS very tliin here compared with the floors in Figs. 343 and
Into the wall in the background is let a square tube which allows
the fumes to escape
ing in a group of nine at the north end marked m. They arc
obviously made of pipes instead of bricks and are filled with fragments
of brick and mortar. In order to make them equal in height to the
others they have covers at top and bottom, also a few tiles added. The
pillars, standing lo to 14 in. apart, are connected at the top by plates
20 to 24 in. square, and 2 in. in thickness. Their surface is generally
grooved in order to offer a firm grip to the plaster of the floor above,
which is here 6 in. thick. The plaster covers the whole of the floor
and has one hole {hi) 20 in. square to allow access to the hypocaust.
Fig. 349- — ^Plan of the Hypocaust near Saalburg
It is closed with a plate of sandstone which is lifted by a stick and a
rope fastened to a hole in the centre. Obviously, the only purpose of
this entrance was to allow the cleaning to be carried out and perhaps also
to allow repairs to be made to the hypocaust. When the work was finished
the plate was placed back into the hole, and closed all round with clay
or mortar.'
‘ A tube runs all the way round the hypocaust. It shows a different
cross-section from that of the spaces between the pillars owing to the
projecting base of the wall. Seven pipes (f) sheathed in tiles 'ascend
from this tube. Five of them are 5I in. square ; the two in the back
264 METHODS OF PRODUCING FIRE
corners are, however, 5-| by loin. They rise out slightly above the floor,
emitting the hot gases inside directly into the living room. The flue
fg, in the wall, mentioned above, is divided by a tongue into two shafts.
It is still extant about a yard in height, but it seems .to have continued
through the wall upwards as far as the roof or even farther. It could
hardly have been used as a proper chimney for the smoke, as six convex
tiles (n) on the back wall served this purpose, since they are placed
opposite the fire-hole. In the author’s opinion the double flue /g,
provided with an orifice immediately above the floor, can only have been
intended to ventilate the room, by sucking up foul air from the floor,
or stale air if the room should become overheated.
How much the hypocausts differed in size is seen from a comparison of
those at Saalburg with those of the thermae at Treves. In the latter
the praefurnium alone is over 8 ft. high and has the form of a long
corridor holding the various fire-chambers. To what extent hypocausts
served their purpose cannot be ascertained in spite of the minute cal-
culations of Krell, who worked out their efficiency on the basis of the
theory of modern technical science. He confined himself to special
cases, whereas an accurate idea would be obtained only from compara-
tive calculations on different types of hypocausts. Even then obstacles
would be encountered. The number of such types, preserved sufficiently
to safeguard against errors, is not sufficiently large. We do not know
whether there was any relation between the fuel consumed and the size
of the plant. Neither is the character of the fuel known, nor its heating
power.
Hypocausts seem to have afforded a great deal of comfort to the
Romans, otherwise they would not have existed in every part of the
Roman Empire, particularly in the better sort of dwelling-houses and
in the villas of the rich. On the other hand, they must have entailed
some inconveniences, judging from the fact that they fell entirely into
disuse in the ninth century a.d., after they had been almost universally
employed from before the beginning of the Christianera. The people of
the Middle Ages made no use of them, although their own heating arrange-
ments were by no means very efficient. For the time being the question
as to the real value of the ancient hypocausts must therefore be left
open, and it is very doubtful indeed whether it will ever be settled,
unless new evidence is brought to light by further excavations.
HEATING BY PIPES
Another mode of heating adopted by the Romans was the one which
involved the use of pipes, A pipe conducting the hot gases from the
fire-chamber runs along the floor underneath the room intended to be
heated. At the edge of the floor it rises vertically through the wall and
serves as a flue or chimney (Fig. 350). In many systems it rises gently.
Very often several pipes run across below the floor diagonally, their
point of intersection being connected with the fire-chamber by a feeding-
duct which leads the hot gases to the centre of the floor, whence they
HEATING
265
are distributed diagonally to the four corners (Figs. 351 and 352). An
example of this system is found in one of the boundary towers of
Saalburg Camp. In the two comers, opposite to the praefurnium, the
orifices of the diagonal tubes are still seen, and in all probability the
two other corners had similar outlets.
The Roman system of heating by tubes must be regarded as rather
wasteful and unpractical from a technical point of view, since the actual
heating surface of the pipe was very small, the room above being heated
only by the top surface of the pipe. All the rest of the heat, i.e. the heat
radiated or emitted from the bottom or the sides of the tube, was lost,
and therefore the calorific value of the fuel was exploited to only a very
small degree.
What the fuel used was like is just as little known as in the case
Figs. 351 and 352.-~CrosS“Section I
and ground-plan of the system of
heating by pipes found in one of
the boundary towers at Saalburg |
of hypocausts. Jacobi maintains that it was charcoal, whereas Krell I
assumes it might also have been ordinary wood. The present author ?
made calculations starting from calorific value of the various kinds of J
wood and charcoal, the size of the fire-chamber and some other points,
but he did not succeed in clearing up the problem either.
In Saalburg Camp some further contrivances for heating floors have
been found. They are to be regarded as a combination of hypocausts and
heating by pipes. Jacobi describes them (Fig. 353) in the following
terms ; . . ■ ■ • ■ ' i
‘ In the centre of the room to be heated is a space 6 ft. 7 in. square
and 2 ft. 4 in. deep, abed (a hypocaust with pillars). The flue m runs
into it and seven heating-pipes n-t radiate from it. Five of them, o,-p,
q, r, s, continuing the flue in a forward direction, strike into the heating
pipe ei, built in the wall, whereas the two receding pipes (n and/) end in
the twm corners on the left and the right of the flue in vertical radiators
(Ki) which finish on a level with the floor in front of the wall. The
five tubes (o-s) undoubtedly continued upwards through the walls and
led away the smoke. At the same time the thinness of their walls
enabled them to heat the room quickly,
' The fire was lighted through the fire-hole S, which is bordered with
basalt. The pipes in the floor are merely covered with tiles and a thin
366 METHODS OF PRODUCING FIRE
coat of plaster. After the fire had gone out and the heat had accu-
mulated in the central hypocaust {a~d) and the tubes % and the slides
were removed from the radiators Ki, and the heat was admitted
directly into the apartment. Cold fresh air was also allowed to enter
either through the fire-hole specially opened for it or through the
chimneys which had been vacated by the smoke in the meantime.’
Similar combined systems of heating are also found in various other
Roman settlements. They have one advantage over the heating-pipes
Fig. 353. — System of Hypocaust and Heating-pipes used in combination at Saalburg
in that the heat from the bottom and the sides of the tubes is not altogether
lost. It is partly absorbed by the air circulating in the tubes and trans-
mitted to the room intended to be heated. A serious disadvantage,
however, must have been incident to either system : the places above
the tubes were bound to become heated to such a degree that eventually
they could not be stepped upon. For this very reason, so far as we can
see, all the better-class houses were provided with hypocausts. Though
these were considerably dearer they had the great advantage of heating
the whole of the floor uniformly and of allowing the temperature to be
regulated.
TOWN PLANNING
T he reasons why towns, that is, settlements on a somewhat large
scale, were founded were necessity and expedience. And how
very early the planning of towns was taken in hand may lx*
gathered from the fact that in the year 4000 b.c. there were cities of
gigantic size. The walls of Babylon enclosed an area twice as large as
that of modern London, and some other ancient cities also assumed
considerable dimensions. Their population may not have ranked with
those of a modern metropolis, but they certainly equalled those of large
modern provincial towns. Athens, for instance, at the zenith of its
pro.sperity had .some 250,000 inhabitants, Jerusalem about 500,000,
Carthage and Alexandria about 750,000, and Rome at least one and a
half million. There are only a few cities to-day wliich surpass ancient
Rome in this respect. We are therefore justified in talking of the great
cities of antiquity, since cities of that size could have grown only on the
basis of a highly developed technical art of town planning.
LAYING OUT TOWNS
Considering the general architectural design of ancient cities, we can
divide them into two main groups ; the ‘ natural ' cities, which have
grown organically, and the cities laid out according to a definite plan.
The former arose through the gathering together of an indigenous popu-
lation in a limited area. With a view to defending themselves against
enemies or simplifying the exchange of commodities, people formed settle-
ments which grew as the number of settlers increased. Everyone pleased
himself in choosing a suitable site for his house. Consequently a clear
premeditated plan is entirely lacking in this kind of town. The streets
are narrow and crooked, running irregularly, in all directions. The
second group of towns is laid out according to a systematic design.
Usually they owe their existence to the will of some autocratic ruler,
who ordered them to be built in a place apparently suitable for his pur-
pose. vSo the ‘ city architect ' proceeds to make plans' according to
which the town is to be laid out. The fact that the design for a fortifi-
cation has been found on an alleged statue of Gudea of the year 3100
B.c. conveys some idea of the age of town planning. A city built to a
plan displays wide and straight streets, intersecting each other mostly at
right angles, markets and other public squares, all laid out according
to a definite scheme (see Fig. 365).
In some instances a ‘ natural ’ town has changed to a town of the
second kind. The old quarters in the centre exhibit all the characteristics
267
268 TOWN PLANNING
of a natural settlement, whereas the later and outer parts show the traces
of systematic planning. Athens and Rome both belong to the autoch-
thonous or natural type. Heliopolis in Egypt, on the other hand, was
built according to plan as early as 1400 b.c. But it seems that a planned
town, the remains of which were excavated some time ago, was founded
at Kahun near Lake Moeris even earlier, namely about 2000 b.c. In
Italy town planning seems to have been started in the sixth century b.c.
when the Etruscans built a regularly laid out city in the district of Marza-
botto near Bologna.^
The oldest planned towns are found in Mesopotamia, as stated above.
The question whether Babylon was laid out according to a plan may
be left open. In any case the subsequent extensions were done strictly
Fig. 354.^ — Plan of Babylon
according to design, as is clearly seen from the following description
given by Herodotus (I, 178-181)2:
‘ Babylon was a city such as I will now describe. It lies in a great plain, and
is in shape a square, each side an hundred and twenty furlongs in length ; thus
four hundred and eighty furlongs make the complete circuit of the city. . . .
Round it runs first a fosse deep and wide and full of water, and then a wall of fifty
royal cubits thickness and two hundred cubits height. . . . They built first the
border of the fosse and then the wall itself in the same fashion. On- the top, along
the edges of the wall, they built houses, of a single chamber, facing each other, with
space enough for the driving of a four-horse chariot. There are an hundred gates
in the circle of the wall, all of bronze, Avith posts and lintels of the same. . . .
' The city is divided into two parts ; for it is cut in half by a river named
Euphrates, a wide, deep and swift river flowing from Armenia and issuing into the
1 There is no reason to suppose that Marzabotto was the first Etruscan city
to have a regular plan. — Trans.
® From Godley's translation (Tho Lo^b Classical Library).
LAYING OUT TOWNS 269
Red Sea. The ends of the wall, then, on either side, are built quite down to the
river ; there they turn, and hence a fence of baked bricks runs along each bank of
the stream. The city itself is full of houses, three or four stories high ; and the
ways which traverse it— those that run crosswise towards the river, and the rest —
are all straight. Further, at the end of each road there was a gate in the riverside
fence, one gate for each alley ; these gates also were of bronze, and these too
opened on the river. These walls are the city’s outer armour ; within them there
is another encircling wall, well-nigh as strong as the other, but narrower. In the
midmost of one division of the city stands the royal palace, surrounded by a high
and strong wall, and in the midmost of the other is still to this day the sacred
enclosure of Zeus Belus, a square of two furlongs each way, with gates of bronze.’
A supplement to Herodotus’ description is given in graphic terms
by Delitzsch :
‘ Through a gate not very far from the south-east corner of the wall we enter the
city proper. Turning to the left we follow a short but wide and apparently well-kept
street lying in lonely solemnity. After that we cross the magnificent bridge built
over the East canal of Babylon, the Bibil-chegalla (or chigalli), and turning to the
right we make for the Euphrates and the vast expanse of houses, the city proper
of Babylon, Lost in the maze of streets and alleys we feel bewildered, not owing
to any haphazard arrangement of the streets, since they are all straight, both those
leading to the Euphrates and the others, but owing to this very regularity, which
makes it extremely difficult for a stranger to find his way among the long rows of three-
or four-storied houses. The streets throb with the bustle and clamour of cit)^ life.
But the commotion becomes livelier as we proceed along the straight thoroughfare
until we pass one of those little brazen gates let in the brick wall at the end of each
road. On the other side of the wall, which stretches along the river, a new sight
no less lively is exposed to our gaze. The Euphrates flows along in sublime peace-
fulness. Its banks are fiat, but at the behest of Nebuchadnezzar quays of an ex-
traordinary height and width have been erected on either side of the stream,'
These river-walls called quays have been rediscovered by Ker Porter
in his excavations. They are 67 ft. high, and nearly 18 miles in length.
The citadel mentioned by Herodotus stood on an artificial terrace.
Artificial terraces are very frequently met with in Mesopotamia,
having been greatly in favour with every potentate who was fond of
display. What a tremendous amount of labour was required for build-
ing such terraces has been made clear by Jones, who carried out
calculations on two hills near Kujundschik. One of them holds six and
a half million tons of earth, the other fourteen million tons. Taking
into account the average labour done by one worker, we can calculate
that one thousand workers would have required 54 years to build the
smaller hill, and 120 years to build the larger one. It is improbable, how-
ever, that the building operations lasted as long as that, human lives and
labour being of little value at that time. If we assume the work to have
lasted 10 years 5,400 people would have been necessary to cart the
material for the one hill and 12,000 for the other.
It has been mentioned above that ancient Egypt possessed syste-
matically planned towns at a very early period. It is even likely that
the Greeks were the pupils of the Egyptians and the Assyrians in this
respect. To begin with they built their towns on the tops of hills with
a view to safeguarding them against enemy attacks. Later on they
settled on the coasts. In both cases their towns bore the characteristics
270 TOWN PLANNING
of settlements built at random, that is, without any system. It was
not till the age of Pericles (493-429 b.c,) that the site was divided up
according to a definite plan. This is first seen in the Piraeus, the harbour-
town, laid out in this way by Hippodamos of Miletus, known as the builder
of several towns. Yet he can hardly be claimed as the inventor of this
new idea. It is rather probable that he proceeded after Egyptian and
particularly after Assyrian models. The advantages of the new method
are clearly seen on a comparison of older Greek towns such as Gurnia in
Crete with those built later like Soluntum in Sicily, which is also situated
on a hill.
Whereas Gurnia covers the hill with an irregular network of streets
and narrow little alleys running into the crooked main streets and with
stairs built to overcome the gradients, Soluntum, constructed a thousand
years later, has parallel streets which lead up the slopes of the hill, and
are crossed at right angles by a wide horizontal high-street. These
changes are due to the authoritative example set by Hippodamos in
the Piraeus.
The plan is very closely adapted to the hilly configuration of the
district. The main streets run perpendicularly to one of the two hills,
the latter forming a natural termination to the system of streets.
Similarly they lie parallel or at right angles to the quay of the harbour.
Theatres, temples and other public edifices lean against the hill-sides or
form a background to the view along the street, as is the case with the
temple of Aphrodite. The naval port and the arsenal are shut off from
the town, and the hills are included in the system of the fortifying walls.
The streets are divided into main streets and by-streets, lying at
right angles. They are all wide and enclose blocks of houses without
any appearance of monotony. Temples, theatres and the castle
are an'anged in such manner that they all enhance the beauty of
the town viewed by anybody sailing into the harbour. The quay is
adorned at one end by the temple of Zeus, and at the other by the temple
of Aphrodite. The harmony of the aspect is completed by the temple
of Pallas Athene. The theatre soars up above the town half-way up
the hill which is crowned by the castle. The temples are placed in such
a way as to form a termination of the streets. Looked at from the streets
the temples always show the front and part of one side. Thus a certain
rigidity which invariably accompanies a facade which closes a street at
right angles is mitigated or totally avoided (Fig. 355).
The plan of Priene, dating from the fourth century B.c., proves that
a highly advanced art of building towns is capable of overcoming great
difficulties. Here the conditions are so intricate that even a modern
architect would find it very awkward to build a town there. From the
plain of the Maeander the rock of the acropolis rises nearly 1,200 ft. A
vast and rather steep declivity slopes down from its lower part into the
plain. The problem was to construct a town in this very area. It was
solved in this way. Parts of the slope were levelled off and made into
terraces for the streets and houses. On the elevated artificial level
resulting therefrom, six longitudinal streets are laid out, one of which
LAYING OUT TOWNS
271
is the main street and is 23 ft. wide. Like a brightly shining band it
leads from the west gate in the town-waH directly eastward into the centre
of the town, where it crosses the market ayoQa) (Fig. 356). In close
proximity to the town- wall are the gymnasium, the shrine of Demeter and
the stadium. The main part of the town lies on this, the lowest, terrace.
Above it there is a smaller terrace with Pythos’ temple of Pallas Athene
which dominates the prospect of the town. The difficulties of the ground
made it necessary to support the temple by a high retaining wall. The
sanctuary is flanked by a theatre, and surrounded by the streets of this
upper part of the city, intersecting at right angles. This part has a
market of its own. In the steep places of the slope, however, the
streets are continued in their straight lines by stairs. But the latter
are avoided iis far as possible. Rather, the streets are extended by
landings so as to give them the benefit of height. Lastly a staircase
cut in the rock leads several hundred yards high to the acropolis, which
stands on a rock rising almost vertically above the city. It must be
admitted that in this very instance of Priene the ancient art of building
towns has scored one of its greatest triumphs. All the obstructions of
the region were overcome without any deviation from the plan drawn
after the model of Hippodamos,
In towns lying on the coast streets are usually made to run parallel
272
TOWN PLANNING
to the line of the shore. Alexandria, for instance, begun and finished
in 331 B.c. after the plan of Deinokrates, has seven streets parallel to
the coast and eleven crossing them at right angles each 23 ft. in width.
The two main streets were some 46 ft. wide. The island of Pharos with
the famous lighthouse (see p. 246) was connected with the city by the
Heptastadion, that is, a huge mole 7 stadia or 4,247 ft. in length.
The longest street, the Canopic, was not less than 3I miles long.
Huge artificial terraces, so popular in Mesopotamia, were not less
in vogue among the Greeks. They were either made by collecting
TOWN PLANNING AMONG THE ROMANS
273
together or by carting off earth. If necessary, powerful supporting-
walls were built to resist the pressure of the earth behind and the thrust
of the buildings standing on the terraces. The finest example of the
art of building terraces among the ancient Greeks is probably found
at Pergamon, which was mainly constructed under Eumenes 11 (197-
159 B.C.). The steep slopes of the hill carrying the castle betray no
influence of Hippodamos, but they have three long-drawn terraces whose
dimensions and technical perfection command our admiration even
to-day. The lowest of them was 40 to 47 ft. high and was supported by
a wall On it stood the gymnasium and some massive round towers
Fig. 357. — Plan of Alexandria
I leaning against the breast -walls and the buttresses of the following upper
terrace. A special staircase of forty steps, vaulted over, led to the ‘ Gym-
: nasium of the epheboi\ standing on the imposing middle terrace where
I large halls, rooms, temples, and other buildings were also found. The
i gymnasium on the third or highest terrace comprised a kind of theatre,
some halls, bath-rooms and such like. The weight of all these buildings
rising on three successive terraces must have been immense, and yet the
I structure of these breast-waUs did not come loose under this load nor
I under the pressure of the masses of earth and rock inside as long as the
i town existed. (A diagram of this system of terraces is given in the left-
? hand part of the plan showing the aqueduct of Pergamon, Fig. 573.)
TOWN PLANNING AMONG THE ROMANS
The Roman methods of building towns was partly based on ancient
I traditions, and partly influenced by the example of Hippodamos, and
i T.A.S.— -18
TOWN PLANNING
274
again they were determined by the fact that some towns arose out of
former Roman fortifications, the castra or camps. The ancient tra-
dition is chiefly evident in the choice of the site. The preference was
given to hills or the junction of two vaUeys forming a promontory upon
which the town. was built. The number of ancient Roman towns situated
on hills is very large. Towns of the second kind, facing two valleys, are
Tarquinii and Volt erra as
well as Coblence, Settle-
ments sprung from Roman
camps still show to a cer-
tain extent the original
plan of the camp in the
arrangement of the inner
quarters and of the streets
leading from them. In-
stances are Aosta, Turin,
Treves, Cologne, Spalato,
Timgad, and Lambaesis
(Figs. 358-360).
But the grouping of
streets customary in Ro-
man camps is also found
in other kinds of towns,
and may therefore be re-
garded as the criterion of
the Roman town. As a
rule both the town and
the camp have two main
thoroughfares crossing at
right angles in the centre
and dividing the settle-
ment into four quarters.
One of these main streets
was the high-street proper,
the via principalis. The
gates standing at its ends
were called the porta
principalis dextra and the porta principalis sinistra. The via
decimiana or simply the decumanus, the main street cutting the via
principalis at right angles, ended in the porta decumana and at the
other end in a gate called in camps the porta praetoria. The main sti'eets
were usually marked out according to the four cardinal points, but not
with particular accuracy, the directions in which the sun rose and set
being ascertained only approximately. For the rest, certain super-
stitions caused the system to appear turned round in the course of time,
so that the North-south street, the via principalis, often became the
West-east street. Moreover, strategic considerations led to the porta
praetoria being turned towards the enemy. Details of this kind vary in
Fig. 358. — Plan of Timgad : a typical example of
a Roman town derived from a camp
TOWN PLANNING AMONG THE JGJMANS
the dii'ferent cases, but on the whole the ground-plan of a ivonian town
is a quadrilateral, mostly an oblong, crossed perpendicularly by two
intersecting streets.
According to Merckel, the planning of a town was partly based on
technical considerations and partly on superstitions and Etruscan tradi-
tions. In founding a town or standing camp the rampart was marked
out first of all. A plough drawn by two white beasts of different sex
was then led along the trace of the future ditch of the town in such a
276
TOWN PLANNING
TOWN PLANNING AMONG THE ROMANS 277
way as to turn the sods to the inner side. These sods formed the ])egin”
ning of the fortification, the rampart. The fathers of the future town
always walked round to the left as they accompanied or led the plough.
Walking to the right would have brought ill-luck to the toviui. On the
sites of the town-gates no furrow was drawn, the plough was lifted from
the ground and carried over the spaces reserved for the future gates.
Very often the corners of the town-walls are not pointed but rounded
off, the reason of this perhaps being that the plough was not capable
of drawing a sharp-pointed angle, but had to be led at the corner from
one direction into the other through a curve. It has already been
mentioned that the cardinal points were observed.’
After all the border-lines had been drawn and the boundary stones
been set with all kinds of ceremonies, which we peiss over here since they
are irrelevant to the art of town planning proper, a map of the future
town was drawn. The length and width of the various streets were
measured off, the territory of the town outside the walls was accurately
drafted, and the whole plan engraved in bronze or marble. The tablet
was then fixed and exhibited in a public place where it could be examined
at any time. A second drawing made on canvas was sent to Rome and
kept there in a special archive corresponding to a modern land-registry
office. The maps were elucidated by notes written on wax tablets.
They contained the names of the individual land-owners, the numbers
of their holdings, which were often distributed by drawing lots, and other
such data.
The original system followed in planning is still discernible in some
towns like Cologne and Treves (Figs. 359 and 360), Whereas the
Roman provincial towns may thus be called ‘ modem ’ in a certain
sense, things were different with autochthonous towns, which were in a
very bad condition even at a later time. Rome above all others is an
example. A graphic description of it is given by Friedlander :
‘ When the regal period drew to a close Rome still looked like a country town of
to-day in spite of its great extent, which was marked out by the course of the Ser-
vian wall. Agricultural work and cattle-rearing were still done in the interior of the
city. The houses were built almo.st entirely of wood and clay, and covered with
a thatched roof. People walked in clouds of dust on the unpaved roads when it
was summer, and in filth when it was winter.
‘ The defects in the later design of the city were attributed by the ancients to the
fact tliat the reconstruction after the burning by the Gauls in 390 b.c. was carried
out roughly and witiiouta plan. The. quarters were laid out irregularly, the streets
were narrow and crooked, and in many places the houses stood crowded togctlier.
Tiled roofs came into use very slowly, shingles being used for a covering as late as
the war with the King Pyrrhus (2S4 B.c,), a fact which bears witne.ss to Italy's
former wealth in forests, which was ruthlessly squandered at a later time when the
houses in Rome were time and again burnt down and rebuilt many stories high of
timber framework. The paving of streets was started much later. At the same time
the city little by little changed its rural aspect. For example, before the year
310 B.c. the wooden stalls of the butchens in the Forum gave way to the banking
premises of the money-lenders; but the general progress towards betmty took
place so slowly and sporadically that aven in 174 b.c. a party Jiostile to Rome at the
1 All relevant passages are collected by Thulin, Die, eirusMsche Dkeiplin, iii,
p. 3, et seqq.
378 TOWN PLANNING
court of King Philip of Macedonia found cause to scoff at the ugly appearance of
Italy’s capital which excelled neither in public buildings nor in private residences.
Really handsome houses had only begun to be erected a short time previously. ’
In Spite of the fact that most magnificent and palatial buildings
were constructed in Rome from the time of Sulla, the general course of
the streets remained unaltered, and even Augustus, who undertook the
architectural reorganization of the Roman capital, was unable to remove
this defect. The disadvantages of such an arrangement of streets were
clearly recognized. In the reign of Tiberius people complained that the
houses were so high and the spaces between them so narrow that there was
no protection against fire and that it was impossible to escape in any
direction in case a house collapsed. The Neronian fire of a.d. 64 owed its
vast extent entirely to these shortcomings. Even later on, after the
burnt-out quarters had been rebuilt and the lower parts'of the houses had
been made of fire-proof material such as Alban and Gabinian stone,
peperino and sperone, the original drawbacks of irregular growth
continued and made themselves felt in an unheard-of increase in the
value of the land. As a consequence of this, people were compelled to
extend their houses by adding to their height, as is the case in large
cities to-day. According to the account of Juvenal, there were windows
in Rome at such a height that objects down below in the streets were
seen as though through a mist ; and Pliny thought that no other city
in the world could compare in size with Rome if the height of her houses
was taken into consideration as well as her area and circumference.
That her houses were higher than those of an average large modern
city is shown in a comparative list by Friedlander. ' Whereas the building
regulations of Berlin of the year i860 allow fa9ades only 40 ft. in height
on streets of the same width, and higher ones only on streets which are
proportionately wider, the by-laws of Vienna fix the maximum height
at 50 ft., or allow four stories, and those of Paris at 70 ft. on roads of the
same width, the Emperor Augustus decreed that the front of the houses
in Rome should not exceed a height of 70 Roman (about 67 English)
feet, i.e. six or seven stories, while Trajan is alleged to have limited them
to 60 (= 58) feet, i.e. five or six stories. But these decrees could hardly
have been observed strictly and did not affect the rear part of the houses,
which undoubtedly often surpassed the height prescribed for the fronts.
Martial writes of a poor wretch who had to ascend 200 steps to reach
his bedroom. Conditions were aggravated by the fact that the maximum
height was allowed on any street regardless of its width. In this respect
Rome was far behind any modern city. In Berlin the average width of
the streets comes out at 73 ft., whereas it was only 17 to 21 ft. for the
Roman main roads; this is less than the narrowest width (26 ft.) allowed
in the Paris regulations of to-day, for which fa9ades not exceeding 40 ft.
are permitted. A road even as lively' and busy as the Vicus Tuscus,
owing to its shops, was only 15 ft. from side to side of its pavement, and
the Vicus lugarius only 18 ft. If the houses of Tyre, according to
Strabo’s account, were even higher than those in Rome, it must be
attributed to its position on a narrow island rock.’
TOWN PLANNING AMONG THE ROMANS
279
The later roads of Rome were laid out according to plan and were
therefore long and straight. The differences between the various
qnarter.s are clearly visible in a plan engraved on a marble tablet, frag-
ments of which are preserved in the Capitoline collections. It dates
from the third century a.d. and shows how crooked and repeatedly
broken roads alternate with straight ones more recently laid down.
As has been mentioned above, in the planning of a town strategic
considerations came first and they were followed by the demands of
commerce and tradition. Although in general these factors remained
in force it was recognized later on that other points had also to be taken
into account. The doctrines of Hippodamos, the essence of which is
handed down to us by Aristotle (384-322 B.c.) and perhaps added to by
him, also became the guiding principle for Rome, According to Aris-
totle one factor was of vital importance in town planning : that the
place of the future town should have fresh air and a sufficient supply
of good water. It should face towards the north and west as much as
possible in order to admit the winds which were .supposed to be refre.shing
when blowing from these directions. In addition, the site should meet
all strategic requirements and facilitate the construction of protective
ramparts as well as put the enemy at a di.sad vantage. Even the form
of government should be taken into account. A town with one acropolis
was thought to be suitable for a monarchy or oligarchy, a town in a
flat district for a democracy, and a town with several citadels for an
aristocratic state.
Similar views are put forward by Vitnivius (I, 4) ;
' In setting out the walls of a city, the choice of a healthy situation is of the
first importance ; it should be on high ground, neither subject to fogs nor rains ;
its aspects should be neither violently hot nor intensely cold, but temperate in
both respects. The neighbourhood of a marshy place must be avoided, for in such
a site the morning air, uniting with the fogs that rise in. the neighbourhood, will
reach the city with the rising sun ; and these fogs and mists, charged with the
exhalation of the marshy animals, will diffuse unwholesome effluvia over the bodies
of the inhabitants, and render the place pestilent. A city on the sea-side, exposed
to the south or west, will be insalubrious ; for in summer mornings, a city thus
placed would be hot, at noon it would be scorched. A city also with a western
aspect would even at sunrise be warm, at noon hot, or in the evening of a burning
temperature.'^
Further, Vitruvius advises against choosing those districts which
emit foul vapours in hot weather. But harm is also done to the human
body, in his opinion, by the cool moisture in the air and in winds. If the
town walls stand in swamps running parallel to but situated a little
above the sea and running in a northerly or north-easterly direction, they
have probably been built so intentionally. By digging trenches the
water can be drained off to the sea, and at high water the surf of the
sea is dashed into the swamps, and with its salt kills the harmful creatures
that are apt to occur in swampy regions.
For this reason Vitruvius considers themunicipal settlements of Altinum
(near Venice), Ravenna and Aquileiaas ‘ incredibly healthy ’. When the
* From Gwilt*s translation.
28 o town planning
swamps j however, stagnate and have no outlets either by way of rivers
or drains, as is the case with the Pontine marshes, they will putrefy and
produce unhealthy vapours. This is why the ancient Apulian town
of Salapia was shifted by M. Hostilius, who founded a new Salapia in a
healthy district with the permission of the Roman Senate and people.
He connected the adjacent lake with the sea so that the former served
as a harbour to the new settlement. ‘ This is why the Salapians now
reside in a healthy area 4,000 paces away from their old city.' The
reports of Vitruvius, which, by the way, are so utterly redundant and
diffuse that we can repeat only the main substance, show that technical
and hygienic considerations played a very important role in the choice
of the site for a new town.
Before the ancients started building a town they found it necessary
to provide adequate protection against enemy attacks in order to be able
to carry on building operations undisturbed. The site having been
marked out in the manner above described, the next step consisted in
fortifying the place by erecting walls and towers.
FORTIFICATIONS
THE RAMPARTS
O PEN settlements were comparatively rare in antiquity. It may,
indeed, be asserted that during many periods and among many
peoples they were the exception. It is true that, later on,
houses were built outside the town walls in many places such as Pompeii
or Saalburg, but they were connected with the settlement inside in such
a way that their occupants could easily retreat in cases of emergency
into the area protected by the fortifications. In order to be safe from
the enemy preference was usually given to an elevated place for the
settlement in order that the approaching hordes might be easily observed
and fought against from above. As has been said at the end of the last
chapter, the area chosen for settling was in most cases enclosed by the
fortification proper before the dwellings were built. The oldest and
simplest sort of fortification was a sort of parapet consisting of a
dike of thrown-up earth. These earthworks as well as the modifications
later derived from them varied considerably according to the nature
of the ground, for even in their earliest stages the fortifications were
built so that certain topographical features were turned to advantage.
Labour was economized, for example, by using as a natural stronghold
the bed or the winding of a river or the mouth of a tributary ; all that
was necessary then was to throw up straight or only slightly curved
ramparts on the remaining side. , Sometimes, however, the bank-fence
was drawn right round the settlement or built in close proximity to it
in the shape of a ring. In this case it served simply as a retreat {reftigmm ) .
These enveloping earthworks were circular, oval or even rectangular in
outline. The method of building them was very simple. The trees of
the neighbouring regions were uprooted, and the area inside the future
2S1
Fig. 363. — ^The lower wall of the same Bank-fence
the Other hand, many settlem^ts have two ditches. Very often the
tools for making ramparts were extremely primitive, consisting merely
of a hoe, which rendered the task of construction very tedious. Fre-
quently also the quantity of loose earth was insufficient, and therefore
the ramparts were often madepf ordinary stones piled up on top of one
another and probably held together originally by wooden rafters. Walls
rampart was levelled. The ramparts themselves consisted of piled-up
earth, and at a very early date were mixed with stones in order to make
them firmer.
On throwing up the earth a ditch was naturally formed, but is by
FORTIFICATIONS
no means found with all the ramparts now. Sometimes the rampart
was made of earth thrown up from inside and outside without a ditch
being dug, and in this way a sunken plateau was formed inside, whereas
the ground outside merged naturally into the surrounding region. On
Fig. 362. — Bank-fence on the Altkonig (Taunus Mountains). The upper of
two walls
THE RAMPARTS
of this kind often enclose an extensive area, as in the case of tiic Altlcfaiig
in the 'I'aunus Mountains, which is encircled not by one row init by several
rows of walls. Enormous quantities of stones were piled up to form a
huge dike many miles in circumference. The amount of lal)our spent
on it excites our wonder even at the present day.
At a very early date palisades were used for the. constniction of
encircling walls. The paling could easily be made of trees felled and
dragged aside, and thus it is quite natural that wood should liave been
used for fortifications. During the Celtic period wood also served to
construct a kind of timber-frame in large walls which were built witlibut
mortar {mums Gallicus alternis tmbihus ac saxis). This method of
strengthening ramparts was subsequently taken over by the Romans
and used in constructing the Limes, the large boundary dike built in
upper Germania against the Teutons.
Technical peculiarities are seen in several such works. Both tlie
Fig. 364. — Vitrified Wall at Plauen in Voigtland
Heidenmauer on the Odilian Mountain and Frankenburg Castle near
Schlettstadt, which date from the La Tbne period (400 B.c. to the year
of our Lord) consist of huge square blocks of sandstone connected by
dovetailed dowels. These dowels have not, however, been preserved. A
curious feature is seen in the so-called ' Glasburgen' (glass forts), specimens
of which have been found chiefly in Bohemia and Scotland. Mdiereas the
so-called fired walls (‘ Brandwalle ’) were only partly glazed by the action
of strong fires, the walls of a Glasburg were vitrified all over, and thus
became one coherent mass (Fig. 364). As regards the method of pro-
ducing Glasburgen many theories have been proposed. It seems rather
doubtful whether the process of vitrification was done on purpose. It
is more probable that it occurred accidentally when a wall of .stone, wood
and earth was exposed to fire, a theory which is corroborated by the fact
that the remains of charcoal or ash have frequently been found near a
‘ Glasburg For the rest, the structures and plans of vitrified walls,
such as the wall at Plauen in Voigtland, agree in all details with
Celtic walls, described by Caesar {Ve hello gallico, VII, 23).
284
FORTIFICATIONS
WALLS, TOWERS AND DITCHES
In the course of time the circular walls developed into the ramparts
of real fortifications. This took place at a comparatively late period among
many peoples, for example the Greeks of Asia Minor . As late as the sixth
century b.c., walls, particularly vertical walls, are met with very rarely.
For example, the Wall of Heracles [Iliad, VII, 327-347,435-441) was in all
likelihood nothing more than a dike strengthened by a wall. Other walls
in the district around Troy will be dealt with more exhaustively later on.
In Mesopotamia, on the other hand, fortifications build from very well-
thought-out plans were constructed at an earlier date, as is manifested by
the design of an ancient Babylonian fortress dating from about 3100 b.c.
(Fig. 365). From this we notice that a gate let into the wall is defended
by projecting towers, and that its approach becomes narrower towards
the inside so as to force its assailants to crowd together in front of it.
Penned up in this position the invaders formed a good target for the
missiles of the defenders on the flanking towers. The placing of such
towers on salients arranged in an echelon, and the erection of other towers
on the long front walls, the way in which corners were turned to account,
and many other details, bear testimony to the high standard of this early
art of fortification. The excavations at Nippur, south-east of Babylon,
prove that at that period the inhabitants of Mesopotamia had already
progressed from earth-dikes to proper ramparts, the first of which was
built during the earliest pre-Semitic period (before 4000 B.c.). On this
rampart King Naram-Sin (about 3750 b.c.) erected a high wall of the
flat bricks wliich are typical of his time. The shops of the merchants
were built into the wall on the inside ; further buildings were added
later. The great gate with the three entrances was let into the wall : the
central entrance, which was large and low-lying, was for the animals ; on
each side there was a smaller raised entrance for foot-passengets with steps
leading up to them. A particularly good adaptation to the conditions
of the environment is exhibited by the fortifications of Kujundschik.
These fortifications had a kind of tower-like forts raised on the hills
which lay in front of the city-wall. Behind them stood the rampart, the
ditches and two. other walls, one of which was as high as the outer main
wall. Diodorus says that the walls ^ were 300 ft. high and wide enough
for six chariots to drive side by side on the top. The inner walls
were built of stone and brick, whereas the outer ones seem to have con-
sisted of earth, loose pebbles and large stones. The latter were taken
from the ditches which at the expense of tremendous efforts were hewn
out of the solid conglomerate rock. The excavations have shown the
substructure of the walls to be of stone with a superstructure of sun-dried
bricks. The upper edge of the stone wall was ornamented by cornices.
In some places the wall extended to the river, which formed a natural
moat filled with water. Where this arrangement was impossible, the
wall was protected by a canal which was supplied with water from the
river. On the north side the canal was made to pass into a deep ditch.
1 Sc„ of Babylon, not Nippur. The reference is to Diod. Sic. ii, 7, 3 seqq, — Trans.
WALLS, TOWERS AND DITCHES 285
The art (jf fortifying reached a particularly high stage in iigypl ; tliis
is to be expected since this country is entirely flat and unaidecl by Nature
in its defence against the inroads of enemies. Therefore, not only \v('re
isolated towns fortified, but all along the frontiers a number of strong-
liokls were built, some of which were called ‘ walls of the king’. Of
others mention is made in the hieroglyphics, which state that they stcxid
against the ‘ gates of the barbarians h As far as possible the plan of
these forts was adapted to the configuration of the country, -A long valley
extends from the eastern part of the Delta of the Nile far into the middle'
of the country. From
this valley hostile hordes
could easily penetrate into
the interior. This danger
was obviated by strong
fortifications headed by a
wide canal which drew
its water from some
neighbouring lakes. A
bridge was raised across
the canal and its head
was suiTounded by several
forts which, were perma-
nently occupied by troops.
In the south of the king-
dom strongholds were
likewise built in places important from a strategic point of view, advan-
tage being taken of the peculiarities of the landscape. An Egyptian
king, probably Usertesen III ^ (about 2300 b.c.) according to Lepsius,
had a huge fortress built near Semneh in Nubia, where the Nile breaks
through a wall of rocks. It was con.structed of bricks and pro-
vided with ditches, earthworks and walls. Opposite the river stood
a high wall which, by virtue of its position on the river and its
height, could be regarded as safe from all assaults. The wall was
continued inland, and it followed the undulations of the land to
such an extent that its height varied from 50 ft. on rising ground
to 83 ft. in depressions. At the bottom it was 26 to 30 ft. thick and at
the top some 13 ft. The upper part had a deep slope to prevent its being
scaled with ladders. The ladder could not be propped against the upper
slope. If it was placed on the lower edge the scalers found it impossible
to proceed from the top rung of the ladder on to the steeply ascending
slope. The wall was strengthened by twelve or thirteen buttresses which
were about 7 ft. thick and projected like bastions. Every corner had a
double tower from which missiles could be hurled upon the approaching
enemy. The ditch in front of the wall had the extraordinary width of
100 to 130 ft. Its embankments were faced with carefully polished
stones intended to make the assailants lose their footing on them- and to
slip into the ditch, the edge of which was also faced with stones. The
glacis bordering the ditch was paved in a similar way. On it the defenders
* m; Senwosri.
l''iG. 365.-- -Plan ().f a:i ancient Babylonian fortress
(From a statue of the King tiiulca.) About 3100 n.c.
286 FORTIFICATIONS
awaited the onslaught of the enemy, as is still done in the case of modern
fortresses. In war time the walls were especially equipped. Their
pinnacles were furnished with timber frames, conning-towers and pro-
jecting scaffolds. On them the defenders took their positions and hurled
stones and other missiles, or when the invaders came near enough, poured
boiling oil over them. The fortresses in Syria may have been constructed
in a similar way. In any case conclusions to this effect may be drawn
from the mural paintings in the Ramesseum depicting the conquest of
the country by Ramses II about 1300 b.c. It cannot be ascertained,
however, whether the Egyptian artist who painted these battles had seen
the fortresses himself or had copied Egyptian models. That the Scythians
had similar fortifications is more or less proved by the paintings at
Thebes bearing witness both to their capture by Ramses II and to the
fact that the conditions of the ground were turned to account. The
Scythian fortification was surrounded by a double ditch filled with water
from a neighbouring river and crossed by two bridges. In front of the
ditch and the bridges the defenders stood on what appeared to be a kind of
glacis which was also within the range of arrows shot from the towers.
The towers were higher than the walls, in order to enable the defenders
to continue fighting the assailants who had stormed the wall and to oust
them from the battlements.
THE ART OF FORTIFICATION AMONG THE GREEKS
The art of fortification reached a particularly high stage among the
Greeks, Here the earth- dike had also originally been the customary
mode of fortifying a place. For instance, the wall of the camp at Troy
built by the Greeks near the sea-shore was made of earth strengthened
by tree- trunks and stones which were driven into it {Iliad, XII, 28, 29).
In front of it there was a deep ditch {Iliad, VII, 327-347, 435-441).
The wall was provided with towers through which or beside which gates
led into the camp {Iliad, XII, 35, 36 ; VII, 338, 339). The wall and
towers had battlements {mdl^eig) rising from the wall like steps {xQoaaai).
The wall was strengthened by buttresses {aTfjIai 7 tQ 0 ^?^ 7 jreg), probably
a kind of beams or planking supported by rafters which were intended
to prevent the earthwork from sliding. A particular passage often
mentioned in the Iliad (IX, 67, 87 ; XII, 64-66, 145 ; XVIII, 25, 228 ;
XX, 49) ran between the wall and the ditch.’ In it the Greeks used to
sit and cook their meals. The passage and the wall were cut off from the
ditch and protected by palisades rammed into the elevated side of the
ditch (Schliemann). The Iliad contains a description, not only of the
Greek wall, giving full particulars, but also of the Trojan wall, the technical
details of which have, moreover, been exposed by Schliemann's excava-
tions. According to the Iliad (XXII, 3, 145 ; XVI, 700) this wall had
parapets and towers and was easily accessible in one place only {Iliad,
VI, 435-437) • Although Schliemann's excavations have shown that
the different towns of Troy had different kinds of walls, the wall of the
third town on the whole conveys a clear idea of the Trojan art of fortifica-
THE ART OF FORTIFICATION AMONG 'J'HF. GIHiEKS 287
lion. It is characteristic, for instance, that the. Cyclopean wall of the
second town rests on the revetment made of smaller stones which belonged
to the first town. It probably also served as retaining- wall to the hill.
The w'all of the first town (A in Fig. 366) was built exactly like the walls
of the houses of the first or lowest town, namely in such a way that the
joints of two stones were overlaid by a third stone. The wall of the
second town, the Cyclopean wall (B in Fig. 366), consists of large blocks
connected up by small stones. A further wall was afterwards discovered
which was made of large blocks cemented together with clay.
On the strength of all his
excavations and r e s e a r c h e s
Schliemann makes the following
statements about the seconcl
wall (B) :
‘ It is 20 ft. high, 6| ft. thick,
and is built in so-called Cyclopean
masonry, i.e., in regular layers of
large aitd rough .square block.s of
limestone joined together by small
Fig. 367. — The larger inner and outer
Walls of Troy
stones. Its vertex lies exactly 34 ft. below the surface of the ground. As is
shown by the .strata of debris running in a slanting direction underneath, it was
originally constructed on the steep slope of a hill. A large quantity of similar
blocks lying beside the wall seem to indicate that it used to be considerably higher.
When I first laid it bare at the end of July 1872 it was much longer. In February
1873 I partly cleared it away in order to uncover the curious revetment A de-
scribed above. It stands under the wall B at an angle of 45” and is 6 ft, high ;
it served originally as retaining wall to an isolated sand-mound which seems to
be 20 ft, high with its ridge lying 20 ft. below the surface of the hill. It is fairly
certain that the revetment belonged to the first town, as I have explained above.
‘ The large inner wall marked a in Fig. 367 and r in Fig. 368 must in all prob-
ability be ascribed to the inhabitants of the second town. It also consists of
large stone blocks and leads south at an angle of 45°. But it is only the south
.side that consists of solid masonry. On the north .side it is built of stone not more
than four or five courses deep, and is here supported by a wide dike (r) of loosc
.stones and debris, the same material which was used for the greater part of the
interior of the wall. Directly south of this large wall there stands another of the
same size {cd in Fig. 367 and b in Fig. 368) which was obviously built by the tliird.
generation of settlers. It will be discussed below. The large inner wall runs east-
ward for some distance and then diminishes in width, becoming a wall some ft.
high, 6 ft. wide at the top and 12 ft. at the bottom. Finally it abruptly turns to
the north-north-west. It is made of solid stone. Its builders did not take the
trouble to clear the earth from the rocky ground, for the wall stands on a layer of
earth which covers the rock to a deptii of 2 ft. The inhabitants of the second
town seem to have built the gate too, and the paved road which runs south-west
Fig. 366, — ^The Walls of Troy (front view)
Wall B belongs to the second town. The loaning posi-
tion of the layers of stones seems due to a subsidence of
the soil. Wall A is older, being that of the first town.
It is a breast-wall for strengthening the slope of the hill
and at the same time a revetment for the wall B
THE ART OF FORTIFICATION AMONG THE GRIPERS 289
Finally, llie wall of the third town reveals the features of a most
singular construction. To the new settlers the wall (marked c in Fig.
368) did Jiot seem to be a sufficient protection, for it could easily be
ascended, its angle of slope being only 45°. For this reason, in the very
front of it, the large wall 6 was built facing towards the south at an angle
of 15°, but perpendicular to the wall c on the north side. Thus, between
the two walls a large triangular space emerged which was filled up with
earth completely free from debris, as is proved by the excavations.
Like wall c, the second wall b does not consist of solid masonry, but of
two walls standing some 7 ft. apart. That which faces south slopes up
at an angle of 75°. The space between the two walls of b was filled with
loose stones. As a revetment for these stones the southern wall would
hardly have been able to resist the tremendous pressure in a vertical
position ; this accounts for its slope. Both walls are made of small
stones cemented with loam, and apparently contain not a single hewui
block. The stones were placed with the fiat side outwards in order to
make the face of the wall as smooth as po.ssible. The crest of wall b as
well as that of wall c was topped with larger stones. Since the walls b and
c were equal in height, a wide platform was obtained by filling the .space
between them with earth. The further part of wall b is constructed
merely of a few courses of large blocks of stone placed on the debris of
the second town. Upon these blocks brick walls were raised. As they
appeared too weak, however, for this weight, a kind of clay cake was
placed between them ; the use of this clay cake for making walls was
peculiar to the builders of the third town of Troy. It is true that it also
occurs in the first two towns, but it does not form a part of the construc-
tional system. The reason which led the Trojans to employ these clay
cakes is discu.ssed by Burnouf as follows :
‘ The new settler.s started by levelling the debris over the ruins of the second
town. They filled up the hollows and cavities with stones and other material such
as ash or clay, and in order to consolidate the ground they laid clay cakes (gaieties)
into the interstices,’
As regards the brick wall standing on clay cakes Burnouf gives the
following information :
' In A (Fig. 369) there are sixteen courses of brick cemented togetlier with a
material wliich was prepared from crushed bricks. These courses extend almost
up to the Hellenic wall (C). They are inclined outwards. The layer of clay
cake (B) on which they rest is some 6 ft. thick. It is separated from it by a layer
of blocks of limestone. B lies upon the large wall D which encircles the citadel.
At a later period the town spread over the area covered by the debris wliich had
been thi-own over the walls. R designates one of these accumulations of debris ;
it contains a layer of black ashes N, M is the wall of a house which, leans
against the Hellenic wall C.'
On the north side the brick wall does not rest on a stone wall but on a
course of large stone plates. It consists of two parallel walls with the
intervening space filled with broken bricks. But it also shows traces
of white plaster.
The Iliad mentions a watch-tower (XXII, 145), and another
T.A.S. — 19
290 FORTIFICATIONS
tower (XVI, 700), which proves that in the art of fortification a dis-
tinction between watch-towers proper and towers belonging strictly to
the defence system was drawn at a very early date. The ordinary
watch-towers did not project beyond the wall, either in ancient or in
mediaeval fortification. The
towers, however, which joined
part of the fortification, did
project and so enabled the
defenders to cover the walls
and the ditch in front with
arrows or other missiles.
The distances between these
towers varied between 165 and
330 ft. according to the range
of the weapons and ballistae
used. Sometimes the towers
stand out at right angles from
the ‘ curtain’, i.e. the wall
between them, and sometimes
their sides form a kind of
nook with the curtain so that
one edge is turned towards
•the assailants. This arrange-
ment renders the climbing of the curtain more difficult, and for this
reason the tower is often placed in an angle of the curtain, or the cur-
tain is built on a broken line between the towers. Instead of the
above-mentioned funnel-shaped gate entrance between two flanking
towers, as was customary in Mesopotamia (see page 284), hexagonal
towers came into use later on for flanking the gates ; by this arrange-
ment the same result was achieved. Round towers were comparatively
rare, though they occurred in isolated cases such as at Messene.
GATEWAYS
Particular care was bestowed on the entrance gate of fortifications.
Apart from strong flanking towers (Fig. 370) special salients were built
with the wall for hiding the gates. This gate was approached by a road
which was protected in many ways. For instance, it turned at a sharp
angle and caused stoppages amongst the advancing assailants or exposed
portions of itself to the missiles of the defenders. Or, again, it helped the
defenders to reach the area in front of the fortress without being wounded
during a sally. Inside the gate there is often a yard closed towards the
town by a second gate. In this yard the troops were drawn up, inspected,
relieved or assembled for sallies ; or the enemy who had managed to
enter through the outer gate could be checked and prevented from advanc-
ing further by shutting the inner gate and could under certain circum-
stances be annihilated. Specimens of particularly weU-built gates are
found in the citadels of Tiryns and Mycenae. The walls of Tiryns contain
Fig. 369. — The Brick Wall of Troy -WThich rests
on clay cakes
GATEWAYS
291
stone blocks 6 to 10 ft. in length, 3 ft. wide and 3 to 6 ft. thick. The
weight of some pieces amounts to 20 tons. The walls are not sloping but
rise vertically to an imposing height. The main wall of 'I'iryns runs
round a liill which is some 330 ft. wide and about 1,000 ft. long, and falls
into three sections. On
the highest of them
stood the old royal
palace. The mi d d 1 e
section contained the
dwellings of vassals and
servants, and the lowest
part constituted the town
proper. The walls of
the various sectio.ns w’ere
very different in thick-
ness. Whereas some are
only 23 to 26 ft. thick,
others are not less than
53 ft. thick. The ramp
forming the ascent to
the citadel is constructed with Jjrojecting flanking Towers
ill such a W^ay that a Reconstruction of palate of Sargon
man approaching the
gate held his left hand, wdiich carried the shield, on the other side.
The right hand was turned towai-ds the wall of the citadel. In this way
he was from the outset rendered defenceless on account of his position,
for he was unable to protect himself with the shield on the w^all side and to
throw javelins or other missiles upwards. The gate had a width of 6 to
10 ft. and could be locked by a sliding bolt, the grooves of which may still
be seen in the wall. The gate was no folding-gate hut a swing-gate, as is
seen from the traces left
in the threshold and the
ruined lintel. It was pro-
vided with pivots forming
the continuation of the
longitudinal axle and
swung round in pans
lying in the middle of the
threshold and the lintel.
When the door was open
one half was turned in-
wards and the other
outwards. An enemy, unfamiliar with this peculiarity, who pressed
against both halves of the gate thus kept them steady by his own act, and
was thus stopped and exposed to missiles from the wall for a longer time.
Behind the gate there was an additional defence, a passage protected by
w^alls.
A w'ell-fortified tower contained a cistern, which was of vital importance
Fig. 371, — Fortification of the citadel at Tiryns
Fig, 375. — Gate at Messcne (restored)
on vertical posts. Later on, a further expedient was discovered for
relieving the strain on the lintel and preventing its collapse. According
to Reber, whose account we are following, the ‘ Lion Gate ’ at Mycenae
is a classical instance of the new method of procedure. An aperture, a
sort of upper doorway, was made above the lintel with both sides narrow-
ing towards the top, so that the weight over the gate was reduced. Thus
GATEWAYS
from a distance requiring too much time, the superstructure of .Tliemis-
locles’ wall was made of clay tiles. The construction of tlu' gate's also
shows that they were planned with ^eat care, and in some cases a fair
amount of technical knowledge is manifested. The gattis of fortirK.'atif)ns
reached a particularly high degree of
technical development because some
parts had to support excessively heavy
loads as a consequence of the material
used. The most primitive gates were
constructed in the following w'ay. The
lintel was simply placed across the top
of the jambs and then the rectangle
f ormed by these parts and the threshold
was let directly into the wall. In order
to obtain a large-sized gate the lintel had
to be made of greater width ; it thus
became heavier, consequently demand-
ing a greater bearing power in the
jambs. This difficulty was overcome
by placing the jambs obliquely, that
is by making the doorway narrow^er towards the lintel. The result
was that the width of the gate at the top and with it the lintel
were kept small even with a wide opening at the bottom. A narrow
lintel was less liable to break under pressure than a wide one lying
I’Ki. 374 , — 'J'Ik* Liol) Gate of Mycenae
FORTIFICATIONS
294
the lintel was no longer pressed down by the weight of the superincumbent
wall, and a free opening was formed which was either triangular, quadri-
lateral or polygonal, and was either left vacant — as in the gate of Messene
— or filled with some lighter masonry embellished by plastic ornaments
as in the case of the Lion Gate at Mycenae.
Fig. 376. — Gate at Missolonghi Fig. 377, — Gate of Thorikos
If we now imagine a gate of the kind just described with an upper
aperture but with the lintel and jambs removed we should have a form
of gate such as is actually found in ancient fortifications, for example, in
Fig. 378. — Gate of Phigalia Fig. 37Q. — Gate at Samos
Messene (Fig. 375). The wall itself forms the perpendicular sides of the
entrance, which is triangular at the top. If the sloping parts on each side
are slightly curved, they form a gate with a pointed arch, such as the gate
of Ephesus. If the sides slope up all the way from the threshold they will
form a regular triangular gate (as at Missolonghi, Fig. 376). And if they
are curved, in addition, the gate will be a simple pointed arch like the
gate of Thorikos (Fig. 377). If the sides of the entrance are vertical at
the bottom but slant towards the top, space is left for the insertion of a
lintel, which, however, can be of only small dimensions. (Cf. the gates
ROMAN FORTIFICATIONS
295
of Phigalia, Fig. 378, and of Amphissa.) Again, the corbelling blocks of
the sides may be oblique, as is seen in the gates of Samos (Fig. 379),
Abae and Samothrace. A useful method of relieving the lintel, applied,
for example, in pyramids and other Egyptian works of architecture, was
as follows. The lintel was cut in two beforehand, and the two pieces
were leaned against each other with their lower ends standing on buttresses
or on the wall where it bounds the gate. In this way the pressure of
the masonry above the lintel was transferred from the two halves of the
lintel to the buttresses or the lateral parts of the wall, as is often the case
with bridges. An example of this construction is found in the gate at
Delos.
ROMAN FORTIFICATIONS
In general the fortifications of the Romans are very mucli like those
of the Greeks. Sometimes they exhibit ancient Greek peculiarities so
distinctly that their origin is beyond all doubt. The fortified camp
on the Bay of Verudella near Pola, for instance, recalls the above-
described fortifications of Tiryns and Mycenae, as regards its plan and
the construction of its entrance (Fig, 380).
Fig. 380. — The Fortified Camp on the Bay of Verudella
Anthes describes it in the following terms :
‘ A retaining wall, made of blocks and quarry stone without mortar, wa.«3 con-
structed round the summit of the hill, and the intervening space was filled up. A
fortified plateau 100 paces in diameter and 165 ft. above sea-level was thus obtained.
Parallel to the wall, and at a distance of 10 to 20 ft., there runs a terre-pleine which
varies in width from 60 to 180 ft,, and is bordered on the outer side against the
declivity of the hill by another rampart made of stone. The approach to the camp
lies along the north side of a ridge which gives the fort a land connection with other
ranges of hills. Near the camp this road is continuously flanked on both sides by
walls, and thus a defile is created which is the only mode of access of the assailants
to the weak parts of the plateau. Immediately after meeting the rampart tangen-
tially the road runs for more than 300 ft. along a kind of bulwark which compels
tlie attackers to expose their right sides to the defenders.'
Even in Vitruvius’ description of the construction of walls and towers
(1, 5) practically nothing is found which suggests features distinctive from
those of Mesopotamian, Egyptian or Greek fortifications. Vitruvius, too,
maintains that the entrance should have a position which compels the
FORTIFICATIONS
enemy to turn outwards the side which is covered by his shield. He
vetoes building towns either as plain quadrangles or with three-
cornered salients, but advises that the latter should be curved, 'to give
a view of the enemy from many points. Defence is difficult where there
are salient angles because angles protect the enemy rather than the
inhabitants,' Vitruvius seems to be trying to explain a traditional
peculiarity of Roman fortifications, the origin of which we attempted
to make clear above (page 277), but he is not convincing, for the salient
is still to be found in fortifications of the later Middle Ages and of the
following centuries. Further, it seems more expedient to avoid the angle
by constructing a tower rather than by rounding it off. Besides, in many
Roman fortifications the rounded corner is protected by being sloped or
by specially constructed outer works placed in front of it (for example, the
fort of Niederbieber, in the ‘ Novus vicus ’ at Heddernheim). Vitruvius
recommends round or polygonal towers, the square ones being more
easily destroyed because the impulsive blows of the battering rams break
the corners, ‘ but in the case of round towers they can do no harm, being
Fig, 381. — Ground-plan of the town-walls of Pompeii
engaged, as it were, in driving wedges to the centre There are many
Roman walls still extant which show how accurately the theories of
Vitruvius or the earlier traditions derived from the ancient East by way
of Greece were followed. Vitruvius maintains that the strongest walls
were obtained by making the ditches around the site of the future works
as deep and wide as possible, and that- the earth thrown up in this way
should be heaped up as a rampart between an inner and an outer wall. If
the rampart were then battered down sufficiently hard to stand by itself it
would be, he says, practically impregnable to battering rams, mines or
any other contrivances, even if a breach should be made in the outer walls.
All the important features of Vitruvius’ statement are found in the
fortification at Pompeii, apart from the outer ditch, which is missing
probably because it was levelled out later on, when Pompeii was made an
open city. As to its walls, Overbeck says :
‘ If we examine their ground-plan we find the rampart or agger h, raised between
the outer wall or escarp a and the inner wall or counterscarp c, both of which are
supported by strong buttresses which stand on the inner side. In addition to the
ordinary buttresses d, projecting towards the inner side of the agger, the counter-
k
ROMAN FORTIFICATIONS 297
scarp has some larger ones {d*) catching into the agger at certain intervals, possibly
in order to strengthen it. The outer wall does not rise vertically on the outside,
but slopes inwards, becoming nearly 2 ft. narrower towards the top. The outer
FORTIFICATIONS
the interior view and the small ground-plan (Figs. 383 and 384), these embrasures
have the form of a carpenter’s square and project perpendicularly inwards
for a distance of 3 ft. 2 in. : they are at the same height as the parapet. In
this way they formed a stone shield on both sides for the soldier behind, who
had only to move to the loophole on the right for a moment in order to throw
his javelin. He could at once resume his place of shelter behind the breastwork,
from where he had an uninterrupted view of the assailants. The inner wall rises
some 18 ft. above the plateau and increases the total average height to about 43 ft.,
sufficient to ward off any missiles thrown by ballistae or other machines.’
the construction of the towers in the walls, ample informa-
387-389. — ^The three Stories of the tower on the wall of Pompeii
(which may be closed by a portcxillis) ; b, ascending corridors leading to the first floor ; V and b", stairs
to the second floor or terrace ; c, c, loop-holes ; d, doors opening on to the rampart (cf., Fig, 386)
tion can be gathered from Figs. 385 to 389, Special care was taken by the
Romans in constructing the gateways, the upper parts of which, especially
in later times, were almost always arched. They often have several
entrances and sometimes attain to the standard of monumental works of
art. The arch itself seems to have been taken over from the East, where
it had been used in ancient times in the shape of arched roofings over
Fig. 390. — Porta Nigra at Tr^sves. (View from within)
street crossings {tetmpyla). Many of these arches allow themselves to
be crossed in all four directions {quadnfons)^ The Roman fortified gate-
way reaches the highest stage of elaboration when it develops into a kind
of stronghold. A striking example of this type is the ‘ porta nigra ’ of
Treves (Figs. 390, 391). The ground-floor has no windows. The same
is the case with the small square watch-towers standing at equal intervals
on the limes, the Roman boundary wall in Germania. The lower parts,
I
4
I
I
!
-E.oman Watch-tower on the
Limes
Model ia Saalburg
ROMAN FORTIFICATIONS 299
which were exposed to the assailants, are merely bare walls devoid of any
Fig. 391. — As Fig. 390. View from the outside
weak points of which the enemy might have taken advantage (Figs. 392
and 393). Over the ditch (now
vanished) in front of iYitporta nigra
a bridge led to two circularly
arched entrances. The assailant
approaching them was very much
exposed to missiles projected from
the double rows of windows above
and the three-storied flanking
towers. It, having succeeded,
however, in capturing the bridge
and the strongly bolted gates,
and in forcing the portcullis
behind, he rushed through the
gateway in the delusion of having
the city in his hands, destruction
lay in wait for him. He entered
a courtyard which led into the
city and which had its inner
gates bolted and barred. On to
this space the windows of the
fortified gateway also opened,
from which the defender dis-
patched his javelins {pila) in
large numbers. Trfeves has yet
another peculiarity of the Roman
art of fortification to show;
The amphitheatre, the place of pleasure and merriment, was built
300 FORTIFICATIONS
into the system of encircling walls in such a way as to make it also a
means of defence. The wall was not led around the amphitheatre but
MMPP, Roman town-wall. P, Pillars. M, arches
made to bridge its northern entrances and then drawn in a regular
curve around the long arc of the elliptical arena in the west, i.e.
Fig. 394. — Porta Herculanea at Pompeii
The gateway in the middle has the form of a double gate ; when the enemy had penetrated into the inner court,
it could be shut off by a portcullis and doors from the by-ways intended for pedestrians and could be commanded
from the ramparts
around the side nearer the city. The foundations of the arena were
laid in a hill which had been artificially raised to hold the tiers. Before
ROMAN FORTIFICATIONS
301
the wall reaches the south side of the arena it turns to the right and
resumes its original north-south direction. The idea of this arrangement
is clear. The deeply sunk arena lay in front of the wall and formed a
huge moat, a kind of pitfall, in which the enemy who had penetrated
into it could effectively be pelted with missiles (Fig. 393).
There are also fortified gateways in various parts of Pompeii, of which
a particularly good example is the Porta Herculanea (cf. Fig. 394).
Fig. 395. — Ground-plan of the Gamp at Saalburg
The ditch of the original camp, as wdl as the double ditches in front of the ramparts, the via sagiilaris, and other
details, are clearly visible
The camps or castra, in spite of their varying sizes and their stereo-
typed oblong form with rounded corners, exhibit all the above character-
istics of the ancient Roman art of fortifying (Figs. 395-400). The out-
side consists of a strong crenellated wall, as is clearly seen at Saal-
burg. The crenellations are built in the form of niches, as in Pompeii.
A paved road, the via sagularis (Fig. 397) ran round the camp along the
inner side of the terre-pleine. In front of the rampart there is a path about
3 ft. wide similar to that of Troy, with two ditches in front, having the
characteristic wedge-shape of Roman ditches. Farther outside there is
another rampart. The camp had the two familiar main cross-roads of
Rornan settlements and four gates with rounded arches, of which the
302 FORTIFICATIONS
porta decumana was developed as a double gate (Figs. 398 and 399 )*
The gates are flanked by low towers, and the ditches in their vicinity are
partly interrupted and partly bridged over. There are no lateral and no
corner towers. The double ditch and also the limes, which was 335
miles long, was fortified with stakes, each being separately rammed down
by a hammer, after it had been pointed and charred or tipped with iron
to protect it from putrefaction. The stakes, about as thick as a
man’s arm, were driven in some 3 ft. deep, and then connected up by
a hurdle-work of rods of a finger’s breadth. This wall of fascines was
strengthened on the inside by strong supports. Afterwards a 3 ft.
deep ditch was dug at a distance of about 18 in. and the earth thrown
against the hurdle-work to give it great power of resistance. In
order to protect the soldiers working in the ditch in close proximity
to the enemy, sheds were built, and platforms for the archers raised
within the inner circle of the fortification. It was not till this ditch
was finished that the rampart was begun. It was made of earth, turf and
stones held together by three rows of rough stakes connected by cross-
r
ROMAN FORTIFICATIONS
beams, as is exemplified at Saalburg. A wooden wall was
Fig. 397. — ^Gateway of Saalburg Camp {porfa sinistra)
Interior view. On the left, niches of embrasures, and the via sagularis
built, consisting of stakes, the gaps between which were blocked up with
Exterior view showing the
bridge, double ditch, wall
with orenellations.
304 FORTIFICATIONS
two parallel walls, each. 2 ft. 8 in, thick, were erected, and the space
between them filled with earth. In order to make them safe from the
Fig. 400. — Parallel triangular Ditch with Wall (Saalburg)
outward pressure of the earth they were held together by rafters. A
terre-pleine of hurdle-work was arranged on the scarp, and finally the
Der romische Limes in Germanien
roit Angahe derKasteUe n.einiger Strassen.
IS^e^ingtn.
{SahUtty}
Fig. 401. — ^The Roman Limes in Germania, with the attached camps
stone wall (since reconstructed) was raised and the ditch doubled, but
not filled with water. Tt was intended only to check the advancing
enemy and to throw him into disorder. _
TOWN STREETS AND SQUARES
T he streets and squares were laid out more or less in the same way
in all the cities of antiquity. In most cases there was one
ornamental street or more, usually paved. These branched off
into a system of by-streets, which were paved less carefully or not at all.
The origin of pavements is lost in the obscurity of prehistoric times.
Wherever we come across towns, whether in Babylon, Egypt or Greece,
we find pavements. Besides paving proper there was a sort of macadam :
the ballast — that is, the small broken stones — ^was battered down into
a base. When the ballast had become reduced to powder by the traffic,
it was covered with a fresh layer. It may thus be rightly maintained
that almost every kind of pavement known to-day was used in antiquity
except perhaps wood-pavements, for even asphalt was used to pave the
sidewalks at Pompeii. The stone-paving might be slabs or cobbles.
The ancients also knew how to level irregularities in the surface of the
streets by filling rubble and sand into the depressions and stamping it in
wherever necessary. They also knew how to camber the road-surface
to allow the water to flow off to the sides. As in the case of fortifications,
the art of road-making was highly developed in the East and in Asia
Minor, whence it spread to all parts of the world. This is proved not
only by excavations at Babylon, Nineveh and other places, but also by
investigations made at Palmyra which, according to legend, was founded
by Solomon and used to be the capital of the Syrian province Palmyrene.
The magnificent gateway (Fig. 402) which stands to this day at the head
of the long colonnade has a triangular ground-plan ; this proves that
even ancient builders knew how to utilize corners to produce monu-
mental effects. The gate joins the famous colonnade that consists
of four avenues of columns : this form of street is often met with in
antiquity ; for example, in Alexandria, Antioch, Seleucia, Ephesus and
Gerasa. The Greek colonnade was imitated by the Romans, as at Timgad,
Lambaesis, Dugga and Tebessa. The colonnade of Palmyra (Fig. 403)
consisted of a 37 ft. wide causeway for vehicles and two 18 ft. wide
covered sidewalks for pedestrians. It was about a mile in length and
had 1,500 columns, each of which was some 57 ft. high. The highly
perfected art of cutting stones is still shown by a column 37 ft. high which
consists of a single block of blue speckled granite. According to a theory,
the truth of which is often doubted, a gallery extended over the side-walks
from which the lively coming and going in the street below could be
observed.
A model of this kind was bound to give a new impetus to road-making.
T.A.s. — 20 305
3o6 town streets AND SQUARES
But this holds good only for the ornamental main streets (Fig. 405) ; it
did not affect the by-streets, which were, on the whole, left with their dreary
Fig, 402. — Ornamental Gate at Palmyra
appearance, as the private houses in them had only few or no windows
towards the street and practically no architectural pretensions. But in
general we know very little of them. The best examples of ordinary
TOWN STREETS AND SQUARES 307
thoroughfares in ancient towns have been preserved in Pompeii. In that
city the facades of the houses have some ornamentation even in by-streets,
which are also enlivened by shops built on the ground floor, by small works
of sculpture and paintings. As a rule the streets were narrow, for this
was considered healthier on account of the shade (Tacitus, Annals, XV,
43) . Pompeii’s widest street measured only some 26 ft. across from house
to house, including the sidewalks. Many streets were 13 ft., others only
8 to 10 ft. wide. The streets having sidewalks, the track for vehicles
in the middle was often so narrow as to make it impossible for two
carriages coming from opposite directions to pass each other. If one
was in the street, any that met it had to wait till it had left. Many streets
TOWN STREETS AND SQUARES
Fig. 405. — Foman Ornamental Street : The Fonim Civile at Pompei
placed longitudinally in such a way as to project from the pavement
(Fig. 407).
The streets were slightly cambered, The pavement consists of lava
were blocked to traffic altogether. For this purpose some big stones were
fixed at their entrances across the causeway or some larger blocks
The triangular space was entered through dodrs at x. On two sides it is bordered by a colonnade, r6 ft. wide and
some 670 ft. long, consisting of 100 columns. The third side is open
I, Greek temple; 2, probably the wall of an altar for burnt-offerings ; 3, altars; 4, wells (?) ; s, low walls, shutting
off the temple without hindering the view ; 6, seat with sun-dial ; 7, drains for the rain-water
1 "IG. 404
. — Plan of a Roman Ornamental Public Place : the Forum Triangulare at Pompeii
TOWN STREETS AND SQUARES 309
blocks. This material being very soft, the cart-wheels gradually wore,
ruts into it, which are still visible. (The theory that these ruts had been
Fig. 406. — ^Pompeian. Street
In the centre the pavement, consisting of polygonal lava blocks. On the left and right are seen elevated sidewalks
with kerbstones ; in the houses, shops with counters (visible on. the left)
cut purposely after the pavement had been laid down is wrong.) From
them it can be ascertained that the distance between the cart-wheels in
those days was 3 ft. (Fig. 408). The lava-tiles used for paving were
i to traffic. (Strada del Tempio di Augusto at Pompeii)
oly made before the kerbstones were laid, which cover the site of the second
suggest that the stones originally lay on the sides. Afterwards tlie ruts b b
Fig. 407. — Stree
The original well-worn rut
rut. Certain irregularities lu me j.ui. ouepcoi. ma*. ovv*>vo v.. ...y -.-w. — ---
were made, and finally the street was barred to vehicles by means of the large stones lying at the level marked
joined as tightly as possible. For this purpose they were cut specially
at the corners.
The paving-stones were joined very accurately, but as corners and
edges broke off easily a general loosening took place in the course of time,
Fig. 410.— Pavement with Stepping-
stones for pedestrians.
Fig. 409.- — ^Mended Pavement in Pompeii
a, Iron ; b, granite ; c, marble ; d, gravel.
Hence, the art of road-making practised by the Romans was excellent
and suited the requirements of the traffic of that age perfectly. It must
be borne in mind, however, that the traffic was chiefly effected on foot.
Heavy vehicles for goods were not allowed in the streets except early
and the pavement had to be mended. For this purpose small stones were
inserted or iron wedges rammed into the pavement (Fig. 409). The side-
walks were kerbed with cut stones (Figs. 406, 408, 411) which were often
bored through. These
^ borings served to fasten
■ the awnings with which
i - I the shopkeepers protected
their shops and the goods
displayed in front of them
from the sun-rays and the
rain. Some larger blocks
• — usually three in a line — ■
were made to project from
j the pavement of the cause-
j way. They were intended
tobeusedby the pedestrians
as stepping-stones in violent
rains (Figs. 408, 410). The
I materials used for making
dW the sidewalks varied ac-
cording to the house-owner
who was responsible for
the repair and upkeep of
the section. On the hard
j battered earth there lay a
Fig. 408.-Street in Pompeii
In the foreground there are seen two cart-ruts and behind them three [OpUS Slgmnum) SlabS,
stepping-stones used by pedestrians in wet weather marble OT asphalt. At
the corners of the streets
there were guard-stones, and along the sidewalks gutters with drain-
pipes through which . the rain-water flowed into the sewers (Figs. 412-
415
TOWN STREETS AND SQUARES
TOWN STREETS AND SQUARES
in the morning. Even riding- and driving were uncommon.
Fig. 411.— Street in Pompeii
Sidewalk with irregular kerbstones. Behind, a shop with counter, showing openings for holding vessels
account no stables have been found in Pompeian houses, and only one
doorway for carriages has been discovered. Besides, the elevated side-
Fig. 412. — Street in Pompeii, witii Sidewalk and Gutter for the rain-water
312 TOWN STREETS AND SQUARES
walks, the stone steps and the thresholds would have been sufficient to
hinder the circulation of vehicles. T
was regarded as undemocratic.
Suetonius reports the decree of
the emperor Claudius which pro-
hibited travellers to pass through
Italian towns otherwise than on foot
or in sedan-chairs {Claud. 25). Of
Marcus Aurelius we are told {Hist.
Aug, iv, 23, 8) that he forbade horse-
Fig. 413. — Sewer in the Forum at
Pompeii, receiving the water from
the pavement
The connection with the main sewer was effected
by small lateral drains
reason is that riding and driving
Fig. 414. — System of Gutters at Pompeii
for draining off the raiir-watcr
a, b, c, houses ; d, e, f, streets {d, Street of Fortuna) ;
g, g, sidewalks; /(, ascending ramp xinder which the
conduit lies ; i, i, i, i, outlets for the rain-water com-
ing from three different streets. These outlets lie
perpendicular to the pavement above which they rise.
(Cf. Fig. 415)
back riding, but apparently not driving, in towns. As a
wanted to ride for their pleasure, they used high-roads or
the towns, or sometimes covered colonnades (Juv., Sat.
rule, if people
places outside
vii, 181).
Fig. 415. — -Outlets for the rain-water in a street at Pompeii
The diversion of rain-water was not the only problem of sanitation.
It was just as necessary to remove the refuse and dust from the houses
and the waste from the workshops. All these were carted away to special
places outside the towns. Places of this kind {uonqiai or kotiq&vsz) have
been found near Alexandria, Arsinoe and ancient Cairo. Other questions
of hygiene were considered as much as possible, ‘ hygiene however, being
here understood in the sense of the ancients. Vitruvius, for instance ( 1 , 6) ,
maintains that the winds should be kept off as far as possible from the
towns because they convey an unpleasant sensation if they are cold, and
make people ill if they are warm. As regards the la3dng-out of the inner
TOWN STREETS AND SQUARES 313
parts of the towns, lie advises that the sites of temples, markets and other
establishments devoted to public purposes ought to be fixed immedi-
ately after the marking-out of lanes and streets ; that temples should
be erected to the various deities, as weU as a gymnasium; amphitheatres,
etc. He asserts that the size of pubhc squares should be in accordance
with the size of the population ; that the length and the width of the
forum civile, the main square, should be laid out in the ratio 3:2; and
that the basilicas should be built in warm quarters in order to keep
merchants warm in winter (cf, page 376).
As to the horticultural embellishment of public squares, the ancients
do not seem to have made use of it any more than the southern countries
to-day. Green lawns and shrubs would be ill-suited to their architecture
and they would only spoil the general effect of a public square.
HABITATIONS
THE ORIENTAL HOUSE
O F the appearance, the ground-plan and the internal arrangement of
ancient oriental houses we have practically no record. None of
the numerous excavations that have otherwise furnished such
very valuable information on monumental buildings, arts, and many
branches of industry, has been able to shed light on the art of building
houses in the ancient East. This defect may be due to all the results of
investigations and excavations having been used chiefly to explain their
relevance to the history of the fine arts. Thus there is a vast and rich
field open to technical science which it may take decades to explore.
As far as can be ascertained to-day, the ancient oriental house, especially
in Mesopotamia, evolved from the tent of the nomads. Its original form
may have been a four-cornered or round space sheltered with a skin or
mat. In the middle of this primitive roofing there was an aperture to
admit the daylight, and to allow the smoke rising from the hearth to
escape. Gradually the space became subdivided. Probably to begin
with, cattle, which originally lived with the people, were separated from
the living-room proper. There are certain indications that these dwellings
were originally built against rocks. In any case statements relating to
the original primitive habitations are based on hypothesis. What the
Eastern dwellings which developed from them looked like, we do not
know.^
THE EGYPTIAN HOUSE
More trustworthy information is available about the dwelling-houses
of ancient Egypt, deficient as our knowledge still remains on the whole.
Diverse models of Egyptian houses have been found in tombs. Dwellings
are also shown on paintings, and lastly, some light is thrown on them by
various isolated finds. These representations of houses combine a proper
ground-plan with the design of various rooms, the contents of which are
also drawn in minute detail. This peculiar method of showing houses
with strange representations of doors and other details makes it rather
difficult for people of to-day to obtain a clear idea of the ground-plan of
these habitations. Nevertheless, attempts have been made to transpose
these designs into the form of modern plans, and so it has been possible
to draw some conclusions about distribution of rooms in large houses.
It must be understood that all these pictures merely show the residences
of the wealthy, or of high dignitaries. As to the houses of the lower
1 The excavations at Ur have thrown some light on this problem, — Tmns.
314
THE EGYPTIAN HOUSE
315
classes, we can make inferences only from the few preserved models and
other important data.
The models exhibited in various museums show a rectangular court
enclosed by a wall. On one of the sides there is a house whose ground
plan is a long narrow rectangle, that is, it is fairly wide, but not very deep.
A flight of stairs leads from the court on to the flat roof of the house, which
has obviously only one story. The roof is surrounded by a parapet,
which is higher on the outer side than against the court, and thus allows
all sorts of articles to be passed or thrown down into the court below.
On one side of the roof there is a narrow cabin with the open side turned
inwards. It may have served as a kind of bower in which people were
protected from the sun’s rays and could gaze on the neighbourhood, or
oversee work done in the court. Three rooms, probably the living-
rooms, are to be seen on the ground floor. Although they are filled with
grains of corn in the model at the British Museum, this does not justify
the conclusion that they had actually been filled with corn in Egyptian
houses, the above model being simply a toy-like imitation on a small
scale, such as is used for a money-box or as a dainty receptacle for all
sorts of trinkets.
In Abydos, ground-plans of houses were found that showed great
differences. In some a long narrow corridor runs through the house with
rooms on both sides. In another the rooms are arranged along the
four sides of an open court into which their doors open. Some
rooms are built like porticoes. No far-reaching conclusions, however,
can be drawn from these ground-plans, as it cannot be determined whether
all their parts belong to the same early period. Large houses represented
in the reliefs of tombs frequently exhibit a considerable number of rooms.
From the entrance, near which the doorkeeper’s lodge usually stands, a
long corridor leads into the interior court, one or more sides of which have
the character of porticoes. Houses often have several courts and halls which
may have been pillared. A peculiar feature of the Egyptian dwelling
seems to have been the form revealed by the horizontal section, namely,
a perfect square, or an almost exact rectangle. Residential houses,
— at least, larger ones — do not appear to have been made of an elongated
shape. In this respect the ancient Egyptian house differed widely
from the Greek — which nearly always had unequal sides. For the rest,
the deciding factors seem to have been the same as with us. Men had
their houses built according to their economic circumstances, their require-
ments and their tastes. It is improbable that the Egyptian dwellings
were constructed on a more uniform principle than ours, at least with
respect to the distribution of rooms. Similarly, the laying-out of gardens,
which are often found attached to Eg3q)tian homes, was obviously a
matter of personal taste, but not so in the case of the external appear-
ance, which must have been practically the same for all houses, irrespec-
tive of the pecuniary condition of their owners. The houses were mostly
low and consisted only of a ground floor, which was sheltered by a flat
roof on which there probably were isolated ^iperstructures. The win-
dows were but few, and there was probably|jlly one outside door, the
3i6 habitations
frame of which gave ample opportunity for ornamentation. Apart from
the decoration of the door, the windows, and the well-known hollow
moulding, the facade was plain. Smaller dwellings were usually built
together, and the streets consisted, therefore, of unbroken rows of houses.
Large houses, however, seem usually to have stood alone or in gardens.
The court was probably paved, and contained some open rooms and a well or
fountain. Smaller properties lay round a common court . Large residences
sometimes had a pillared vestibule in front of the chief entrance . N ear the
main gate of palaces, which served as a doorway for the vehicles, there were
some smaller gates for foot-passengers. The gates were closed with doors
turning on pivots, which were fixed in pairs in the lintel and the threshold.
If the door was made of bronze, the pivots were cast with the door in one
piece (Fig. 69). In doors of other materials bronze mountings were
nailed into them which ended in pivots. Doors were fastened by bolts
or by locks with keys ; they will be discussed in detail below.
THE GREEK HOUSE
The Greek dwelling, too, evolved from the cottage, which had been
built after the nomadic period at the foot of a hill on which the citadel
stood. It must be assumed that these cottages were originally round. But
in very early times the influence of palace buildings exerted itself on the
ground-plan of ordinary houses. Their ground-plan, which seems to be an
imitation of the Mycenaean palaces, becomes rectangular and elongated. In
the fifth century b.c. the middle-class house at Athens, built on this plan,
was extremely simple. It consisted of a small court, next to which was
the main room, surrounded by smaller apartments. The reason for this
extreme simplicity is to be sought in the fact that in ancient Greece life
was enacted in public ; people worked in the streets and frequented the
market or tribunal (Courts of Justice). The private house was entered
comparatively rarely, as it was only used for sleeping, cooking and storing
provisions. It was no place of comfort, business or social intercourse. CoU'*-
sequentlythe furniture was very primitive and consisted only of the most
necessary things. A change' took place in the fourth century b.c. Demos-
thenes (383-322 B.c.) complained that the good old times had gone in which
the dwellings of Themistocles, Miltiades and Aristides did not differ in any
way from those of their neighbours — while only temples and public
buildings were magnificent. The development which began at that time can
easily be followed. In a more ancient dwelling, dating from the fourth
century B.c. at Priene, we find the same parts as in the Palace of Tiryns
from which it is derived. In neither case does the door in the wnll which
surrounds the building lead into the house but into a large court where
we face the front of the main building, the megawn, which has the
appearance of a temple owing to the portico and columns in front. The
temple-like facade consists of two antae, two columns standing between
them, and the frieze and pediment above. Through this vestibule we
enter the largest room of the house, which, like the Palace of Tiryns, con-
tains the hearth, the centre of all home life. On one side of the megaron
and the court there is a long corridor. Along the whole length of the
THE GREEK HOUSE 317
court, it is covered by a roof resting on columns. On the opposite side
of the court there are bedrooms and rooms for the servants. Another
covered building stands near the door which leads from the street into
the court. In it were presumably kept implements, waggons and other
articles Later on this building developedinto a more luxurious one, having
Fxg. 416— Ancient Greek House at Priene, of the second century B.c.
Reconstruction of Thiersch, according to the excavations of H, S^der and H, Wiegand. Model m the Deutsches
^ ^ Museum. Munich
a peristyle. It is characterized by the absence of the hall (the prostas which
opens on the court) and by the fact that a colonnade surrounds the court
—naturally there are transitional stages between houses with the prostas
and houses with the peristyle, that is, there are houses which still have the
prostas, but at the same time are bordered along the court by a colonnade
(Fig. 418). As the sun is fairly high at midday in Greece and the sun-
HABITATIONS
318
rays fall almost vertically, the house with a prostas as well as that
with a peristyle had to be constructed accordingly. The prostas as well
as the colonnade which superseded it always opens towards the south.
Both of them stood between the hot sunny court and the principal
room of the house, the
oikos, which lay far back
in the shade and was
moreover shut off from
the heat by a door. The
interior of the oikos 'was
faced with marble slabs or
marble stucco, bordered
along the top by a cornice,
on which were placed
household utensils, small
works of art and statuettes
of gods. The upper part
of the wall, particularly
the frieze, was painted.
The court was paved or
inlaid with mosaic. The
mural paintings simulated
walls of coloured marble
or architectural details
such as brackets, and, at a later period, figures.
As paintings, however, grew more elaborate, houses became more
luxurious ; further stories were added to the ground floor of the megaron,
and afterwards also to other buildings situated round the court. In
isolated cases this had been done earlier, as the excavations in the Palace of
Minos at Knossos in Crete have
shown. In the hall of the upper
terrace a large mosaic was found
representing some forty houses, which
are obviously built partly of wood and
partly of stone. Some are three-
storied and have windows with panes.
They may have been palaces or
simply exceptions to the rule, as the
house of several floors did not appear
till later. In the second century B.c.
they occurred fairly frequently. A
loggia opening between columns into the court was built above the prostas
or peristyle (Fig. 416). The upper floor served as a ladies’ apartment.
When houses were enlarged two were joined together to form a large block
with shops facing the street, rooms for practical purposes on the two
longer sides of the court and living-rooms on the court opposite the
entrance. The living-rooms are distinguished by different names : there
are the common room of the family, the men’s apartment {andronitis), and
Fig. 418. — So-called ‘House of Hyr-
camis ’ (a court surrounded by a
colonnade)
Fig. 417. — Ancient Greek Dwelling in Priene of the
fourth century b.c.
After a model in the Deutsches Museum, Munich
THE ROMAN HOUSE 319
the ladies’ rooms [gynaikonitis] , mostly lay at the rear or on the
upper floor, and lastly, working-rooms for maidservants. For the rest , it is
clearly seen from references by Homer in the Odyssey (XXI, 381) that even
at that period the working-room for female servants lay behind the
megaron. Extensive literature has gradually accumulated on this sub-
ject. As is further seen from Homer, houses had an upper floor which
served as the ladies’ habitation. These facts, as well as that the megaron
was lighted by two windows {onai, Odyssey, I, 320), are beyond doubt.
It has often .been assumed that the back-rooms were subdivided into two
or three parts and that the megaron had either one or two doors leading
into these rooms. But this point is so irrelevant as regards the technicali-
ties of the essential parts of the ancient Greek house that we can pass it
over.
THE ROMAN HOUSE
Although the houses at Pompeii have many details in common with
those of Greece described above, and seem also to be related to those of
Priene, Thera, Delos and Pergamon, the Greek influence on house-
building in Italy did not make itself felt till a later period. The original
Italian dwelling had nothing in common with the original Greek house :
the two, in their most essential features, differ from each other. Even
the Homeric home exhibits one strange peculiarity of the Greek dwelling —
it was a kind of stronghold. The various parts of it were situated round
a court and enclosed by a protecting wall which went right round the
estate. When the Greek was at home he was entirely separated from the
outside world. The windows were intended only to admit the light, not
to satisfy people's curiosity about things outside. In Italy it was different .
How the Greek home developed we do not know. Apart from what we
can glean from Homer, the only trustworthy information we have is
about houses dating from after Alexander the Great ; nor is it possible
to trace the growth of building from the earliest beginnings in the case
of Italian houses. We do Imow, however, that the mode of living
was different in the two countries at a very early period. In Greece
houses stood alone, whereas in Italy they had parietes communes — ^that
is, they were built together. Owing to the rain which collected in the
partitions and damaged the woodwork, every house had to provide its
own arrangement to drain off the rain-water. This caused people to set
up a kind of funnel on the roof through which the rain-water entered the
house, where it was collected in a special basin. This arrangement,
indeed, gave the Roman house, which is derived from the Etruscans, its
characteristic form, whereas in the Greek house the central court is not
roofed at all. The central hall, the atrium, round which are grouped the
various rooms, was completely covered by a roof with a funnel-shaped aper-
ture (the compluvium) through which the rain-water flowed into the atrium,
where it was collected in a basin, the impluvium ; it was then generally
passed into a cistern for domestic use. Like the court of the Greek house,
the atrium is surrounded by rooms, the most important of which is the
master’s room, the tahlinum, adjacent to the atrium. The entrance hall.
320
HABITATIONS
which is characteristic of the chief apartment of the Greek house, namely the
absent here. The entrance door [ianua] opposite
to the tablinum leads the
visitor into a corridor adja-
cent to the atrium. The
■parietes communes w&Q-yQxy
convenient for the laying-
out of streets, and since
the latter were favourite
resorts for business trans-
actions, shops were built at
a very early date on both
sides of the street-entrance
and of the corridor behind.
As a rule they were not con-
nected with the interior of
the house in any other way
and were accessible only
from the street. In the at-
rium, behind the impluvium,
stood the hearth {focus),
which gave its name to the
hall, because it filled the
whole room with smoke and
made it black. The Latin
ater means black or dark
(Fig. 419).
Influenced by all sorts of
models, the most important
of which were Greek, the
original form of Roman
house developed into a new
type in the course of time—
which was a combination of
the Italian and Greek dwell-
ing. Properly speaking the
new type consisted of two houses — a Roman one in front containing the
compluvium, atrium, and tablinum, with a corridor shortened by bring-
ing the street door further inside. By this process a narrow exterior
entrance hall, a vestibulum, was created. At the back this Roman
house led into a Greek one characterized by the peristyle court, with
its surrounding columns. Since here, as in Greece, two houses were
combined into one, it was quite natural that this house, like the ancient
Greek, should be divided into men's apartments and women's apart-
ments. The latter were contained in the Greek part, that having a
peristyle. Both houses were encircled by a common wall with only a few
small windows. Inside rooms received their light from the court. As
in the Greek house, the outer world was effectually cut off by the wall ;
THE ROMAN HOUSE
Typical form of the ^
Roman House with Perislyl?
^Perisiyie House)
Part of the Roof with its Gutter ( Compiuvium 1
the privacy was undisturbed by the presence of the shops— -in many
cases, however, there were none (Fig. 420).
Owing to the fact that light did not enter through windows, but
from the court or compiuvium, mural paintings had to be done in rather
glaring colours, in order to make them visible (Fig. 421). The roofing of
the peristyle shut out the best part of the light. The rest, falling on the
paintings, was mostly reflected by the slabs of the court or the atrium.
The colouring would appear too gaudy on the upper floors of our houses,
lit up by windows, but is very well suited to the peculiar conditions of
illumination in Roman houses. Sometimes special architectural con-
trivances were used to put
the paintings in a suitable
light. In the so-called ‘ House
of the Silver Wedding ’ at
Pompeii, for example, there is
a peristyle, similar to those
found in Rhodes. The
columnated wall on the south
is higher than the three
other sides. The lower
columnated court is entered
from the elevated atrium by
the tablinum. Through this
technical peculiarity of the
peristyle the sun’s rays are
more freely admitted in win-
ter. Moreover, the colours
were adapted to the conditions
of lighting — darker or lighter
shades being chosen accord-
ingly.
By degrees this type
of Roman house — the most
original form of which fre-
quently possessed a small gar-
den adjacent to the tablinum
— underwent many changes,
which were chiefly due to the
increasing luxury, to the want
of space in the cities (see
Vitruvius ii, 8, 17), and the consequent rise in the price of land. Flow
the last-mentioned process reacted on the further extension of Rome
has been graphically described by Friedlander, who bases his remarks
partly on Seneca : ‘ The contractors not only economized the||^ilding
land by putting up as many stories as possible, but more so,
ing and decreasing the rooms of individual dwellings to the y|
reducing, at the same time, the cost of building to a mini |
this method also increased the danger of fires.
T.A.S. — 21
• i
Court -Viird
surrounded
l^^erlstyle)
|H
rT.i.i
Fig. 420, — Roman house with Peristyle Court
After a niodel in the Deutsches Museum, Munich
322 HABITATIONS
The walls of these flats were piled on top of each other and consisted
of wood or wood and brick ; being very thin, they afforded no protection
from heat or cold. A favourite pattern for walls was so-called net work,
Fig. 421. — Mural Painting in mosaic style (Landscape on the Nile, Rome)
Opus reticulaium (see the section ‘.Building in Stone '). Speculative
jerry-builders favoured the. handsome design for the sake of appearance.
The result was often a lack of stability of the structure, as walls built in
this form cracked very easily.
THE ROMAN HOUSE
323
Friocllander continues: ‘ “ Apart of our fears,” says Seneca, ” are our roofs ;
people flee from the halls of large palaces, adorned with paintings, as soon as they
hear a creaking.” A large number of tenement houses were in a dilapidated state,
the most necessary repairs being neglected or done insufficiently. If a landlord
Fig. 422. — Roman Floor made of large slabs (Tr6ves)
“had strengthened the tottering walls by a support and covered over an old chink,
he would assure his tenants that they might sleep safely, although a collapse
was imminent.” The collapsing of houses and the prevalence of fires were two of
the evils characteristic of Rome even during the last years of the Republic.’
It stands to reason that
in these circumstances
it was impossible to ad-
here to any one uniform
type of house. But uni-
formity of design was
gradually abandoned in the
case of the more luxurious
residences, which increased
in number towards the
end of the Republic. For
a long time changes had
been in progress due to
the gradual increase in
the size of houses. The 424.~Roman Floor made of stones of different
tablinum, for example, colours
324 HABITATIONS
originally the private room of the master of the house, was left open
on both sides towards the atrium as well as towards the peristyle, or,
Fig. 425. — The House of the Vettii at Pompeii
Fig, 426. — ^The House of the Vettii, ground plan
B, door ; a, vestibulum, shut off from 6 by the street door ; 6, short corridor (fauces) ; c, atrium ; h, i, alae ; I,
large peristyle ; m, garden ; s, second peristyle, smaller ; n, 0, p, q, r, rooms ; v, second atrium with altar dedi-
cated to the Lares ; «, bedroom ; kitchen ; x, cook’s chamber
Fig. 427. — Pillared Hall with Garden in the house of the Vettii at Pompeii (Fig. 426,
I and m)
THE' ROMAN HOUSE
when the latter was missing, towards the garden. In this way a,
room was created which offered a pleasant coolness without other-
wise serving a special purpose of domestic life. Moreover, the
last two rooms on the two long sides of the house were left completely
open on both sides. In this way two wings evolved {alae, Figs. 426,
437> 443) which were marked off from the atrium, as luxury increased,
by pilasters or adorned with columns between The alae
themselves were provided with a specially handsome floor and other
ornamentation (Figs. 422-424). It was here that the portraits of the
ancestors were kept and the master of the house received his visitors.
A second, smaller atrium, containing the altar of the Lares (as in the
house of the Vettii at Pompeii) and a second peristyle were added later.
Gradually the atrium lost its original character as a common room for the
family which contained the money chest, and in earliest times, even the
master's bed and other articles of daily use, and where the wife sat
spinning. It also in later times often became a reception room. In order
to avoid any disturbance in the tablinum, which served for social enter-
tainment, one or two corridors {fauces) were built near the tablinum
for people going from the atrium to the garden. The ground-plan of the
I
HABITATIONS
326
Roman house thus changed more and more. Yet its original features
were still to be recognized in the luxurious residences of a later period
(Figs. 428-431).
But it was completely lost sight of when the Romans began to equip
the large villas in the neighbourhood of the greater cities with more and
more magnificence. Pliny the Younger says of his two villas that one was
provided with an open swimming-bath and that a soj ourn there was made
pleasant by large rooms with two windows, gardens, and fountains. But
such a villa was nothing compared with the gigantic and palatial buildings
that arose during the time of the Caesars, to which the ruins of Hadrian’s
villa near Tivoli still bear witness to-day. This was no longer a house but
Figs. 428-430. — .Plans of Pompeian House
a multitude of buildings scattered over an extensive stretch of land (Fig.
432). It was no longer planned according to a definite technical tradition
but entirely adapted to the special features of the ground and the caprice
of the builder.
Pliny had placed the couch in his villa at Laurentum in such a position
that he had the sea at his feet ; Diomedes at Pompeii had a semicircular
bedroom built with three immense windows, and placed his bed in a recess
from which he had a view of the whole environment (Fig. 431, No. 14).
Hadrian, however, ordered a stupendous wall of nearly 700 ft. in length to
he built, stretching from east to west, so that one sicle always lay in the
THE ROMAN HOUSE
327
sun and the other in the shade ; this allowed people to take a walk in
either sun or shade at any hour of the day (Figs. 433-435).
Fig. 431. — Ground plan of a Pompeian country house (so-called ' Villa of M. Arrius
Diomedes ’)
The house stands on an incline and has .several stories. Parts lying on a level with the road are in black and are
marked with figures ; those lower than the road are lighter and have small letters, i, outside stairs leading to the
front door; 2, small vestibulum ; 3, peristyle with impluvium with two troughs at its sides; 4, staircase leading
to the lower rooms ; aaa, corridor leading into the court and gardens ; 5, sleeping-room with bedsteads of masonry ;
63, anteroom; 6, corridor; 7,f 00m ; 8, tablinum ; 9, room; 10, exedra; 11, staircase leading upwards; 12,
triclinium ; 13, antechamber ; 14, large sleeping-room — ( 3 , y, alcoves ; 8,waslistand; 15 , passage to the garden ; 16, cloak-
room ? ; 17, small court ; e, hearth; cold bath ; 18, 19, rooms ; 20, tepidarium ; 21, caldarium; ij, hot-water trough;
0 niche with bath ; 32, hypocaust; 23, water tank ; 36, gallery ; 35, 27, rooms ; 28, terraces ; 29, 30, small moms ;
31, entrance to the steward’s department; 32, passages to the steward’s rooms, which are separated from the rest
because of the danger arising from fire ; 33, atrium-like court ; 34, portico ; b, staircase ; c, storerooms ; ciM, cor-
ridor ; efgh, garden (335 sq. ft.) ; i, i, rooms ; ,b, triclinium used in summer ; I, m, n, 0, closets ; p, comdor ; q,
stairs leading to cellar ; v, fish-basin with fountain ; s, pillared hall ; t, back door ; u, corridor ; w, stairs to garden
If we enter into the technical details of the interior of Roman houses
we are struck by the smallness of the individual rooms as compared with
328 HABITATIONS
those of modern times. The House of Pansa at Pompeii is no ft. wide
and 20 ft. deep (Fig. 429). A modern 'builder would perhaps fit 15 to
20 rooms into this space. But Pansa’s house contains no fewer than
60 chambers. The same applies to almost any Roman house. Even in
Hadrian's vast and luxuriously equipped villa the guest-chambers are
nothing more than small and rather dark rooms (Fig. 525).
Fig. 432. — Hadrian’s Villa at Tivoli
Tj Open spare ; a, Greeli theatre ; 3, Latin theatre ; 4, ground for athletics ; 5, nymphaeum. ladies’ bath ; 6, pillared
hail ; 7, chambers of the body-cuard ; 8, school ; 9, swin>ming-bath ; 10, court of the library ; xr, Latin library ; 12,
Greek HI irary ; 13 triclinium ; 14, Doric peristyle ; 15, the Emperor’s palace ; 16, the stadium ; t 7, subterranean passage ;
tS, thermae'', 19, Valiey of Canopus (artificial valley) ; 20, Timop’s tower ; 21, so-called Academy (dwelling-house);
*3,' Odeon (theatre)
This peculiarity is due to the predilection of the Southerner forspend-
ing as much time as possible in the open air. This same tendency left
its traces in the curious development of the roof, which was often made
flat in order that people might promenade there and enjoy the sunshine
during the cool hours of the day or in chilly weather. That is why it was
called solarium. But sometimes people also wished to be cool or to have
THE ROMAN HOUSE
329
sliELcIc in the solarium ; for this reason they constructed bowers or
per gul a e, ^.
favourite haunt for taking ^
of hall with colonnade, Fig. 433.— Part of Hadrian's Villa at Tivoli (in the
ornamented with statues background the long wall)
and other works of art.
In houses let to several
families the staircase often
'll led from it to the upper
floor. The vestibulum was
closed to the ground floor
by the front door, which
in most cases opened in-
’^} wards. Only owners of
high standing were allowed
/jv to have a door opening on
to the street. (Concerning
the door itself, cf. p. 335.)
Inside the door we see the
I I inner part of the corridor,
I the ostium, in which there
I was often a lodge for the
I doorkeeper (Fig. 442) who
kept watch with his dog.
5^ This explains why the
M warning cave canem ha,s
W often been found painted
on the floor there or in-
laid as a mosaic.
The ostium, when it
occurs, leads into the
atrium. Vitruvius (VI, 3)
distinguishes five kinds of atria, which, according to their form, are called.
-The ‘ Promenade-wall ' in Hadriair's
Villa at Tivoli
HABITATIONS
33G
Tuscan, Corinthian, tetrastyle (four columns), displuviate (without eaves),
and testudinate (covered). Of these only the atrium testudinaUm was
entirely covered ; all the others were partly open. The Tuscan atrium is a
simple quadrangle with its roof shelving inwards. The roof was supported
by two main rafters whose ends lay in the walls, and by two auxiliary
Fig. 436. — Ruins of a Roman House (Sallust’s villa), excavated in Pompeii
Model in the Deutsches Museum, Munich
[tigni colliciarum) ; /, the laths [capreoU). The roof was covered by two
kinds of tiles : flat tiles {imbrices), and hollow tiles {tegulae) which were
laid over the joins of the flat tiles to cover the gaps. A third kind of
tiles are the hollow tiles which cover the junction of the two sides of the
roof {tegulae colliciarum).' All these kinds of tiles were found in 1852 at
Pompeii in the Casa di Sirico. They all belonged originally to the roof of
Fig, 435. —Part of the ‘Promenade-wall’ of Hadrian's Villa
rafters fastened to the other two. Mazois has reconstructed this kind of
atrium (Figs. 438, 439) as follows ; ‘ a, the walls ; h, the main rafters {trades ) ;
c, auxiliary rafters {tigilU or trabeculae) fitted into the main rafters, thus
forming the quadrangular opening ; d, mid-beams {interpensivae) which
kept the whole beam-work on the same level ; e, the inclined supports
THE ROMAN HOUSE
331
the peristyle, which unfortunately collapsed (Fig. 440) ; ‘A, flat tiles ; B,
hollow tiles inverted over the joints of the former; C, curious hollow tiles
covering the junction of two adjacent sides of the roof, obviously an
excellent arrangement for draining off the rain-water quickly ; it also
made the roof water-proof at points where the rain flowed on it
from two sloping sides.
Some of the ordinary
tiles (i, 2, 3) are provided
with special apertures of
varying forms for ad-
mitting the daylight into
the rooms below. In
order to keep off the rain
at the same time they
may have been closed
with some transparent
material ; no traces of it,
however, have been found
and the point is still
open to dispute. Fig.
440 shows the various
forms of tiles on a
larger scale and marked
with the same letters and
numbers as in the main
drawing. C is a side
view of the recently
discovered corner tiles ex-
hibiting the curvature and
upturned edges over which
the hollow tiles were
inverted' (Overbeck).
The Corinthian atrium
and the atrium with four
columns were funda-
mentally like the Tuscan
with the exception of one
detail in the four-column
atrium, in that the main
rafters are supported by columns at the four points at which they are
connected with the auxiliary rafters. The Corinthian atrium has more
than four columns and a larger opening for the compluvium, as there
must be sufficient space for the extra columns. The rafters only reach
from the walls to the epistyle or architrave of the columns. As for the
atrmm displuviatiim, the roofs slope outwards, that is, the rain does not
flow into the impluvium, but is collected in the eaves fastened to the
outer edge, from which it flows into the cistern. According to Vitru-
vius this kind of atrium offers great advantages in winter dwellings
Fig. 437. — House with Tuscan Atrium. (House of
M. Nonius in Pompeii)
I, Ostium ; 3, 2«, shop with hack room ; 3, atrium ; 4, 5, 6, 7, sleeping-
rooms; 8, front yard ; 9, corridor; 10, loa, alae ; u, tablinuin; 13,
occus ; ij, front yard ; 14, kitchen ; 15, tepidarium ; 16, caldarium ;
17, colonnade; 18, exedra (reception-room with settees along the walls) ;
19, sleeping-room ; so, oeous ; 21, summer-triclinium ; 23 and 2^,
uncertain, buried under dfebris; 24, shop
332 HABITATIONS
because the roofs are turned upwards and thus do not keep off the
light from the dining-rooms. The drawback, however, is the fre-
quency with which they have to be repaired, because the eaves often flow
over, causing damage to the walls and the woodwork of the building.
Figs. 438 and 439. — Tuscan Atrium (ground-plan, and cross-section)
But the atrium displuviatum had also an inner aperture which is missing
in the atrium testudinatum. Although the latter had received its name
from the tortoise;(^esi(i/^fo) it bore no resemblance to it, The roof was not
vaulted but shaped like a pyramid. Vitruvius recommends it wherever
spacious living-rooms are to be built on the upper floor.
Fig. 440. — Tiled roof of the Casa di Sirico in Pompeii
Ancient houses also had cellars, the hypogaeae, though not as
frequently as modern houses. The light entered them from the court
or peristyle. The ceiling was sometimes vaulted. The windows were
smaller than ours, taken in proportion to the total surface of the house.
THE ROMAN HOUSE
333
Fig. 441. — -Tetrastylum (Atrium with four columns) of a small Pompeian house
The street-door leads directly into the atrium (i), the ostium being missing; ^ and 3, working'jooms ? ; (4), tab-
linum ; 5, sleeping-room ; 6 (?) ; 7, kitchen with hearth, sink, and a staircase leading to the upper floor
Fig. 442. — ^Pompeian House with Atrium Displuviatum (called Casa di Modesto)
In 3 the basin of the impluvium is missing. On the other hand, the double wall suggMts that flowere had been
planted there instead. Next to this pseudo-impluvium there are the openings of cisterns (in 4) into which wm con-
ducted the rain-water from the pipes and from the roof, which sloped outwarfs. i. Ostium ; 2, atrium ; 3, pseudo-
impluvium ; 4, openings of the cisterns ; 5. stairs leading to two apartments on the upper I
r ,4nnrkPPnRr; o. kitchen 1 10, Shop with counter, directly connected with the interior of the
n of the doorkeeper ; 9, kitchen ;
Fig. 443.— Pompeian House with a Cellar (itt the unshaded part of the drawing)
I Door without a vestibule : 2, atrium ; 3 and 9, sleeping-rooms ; 4, tabUnum ; 5, alac; 6, stairs; 7, triclinium;
8, excdra; 10, stairs leading to the upper flodr ; 11, stairs leading into the cellar
HABITATIONS
334
The shops occasionally had some further rooms at the rear (Figs. 437, 444)
and sometimes they were connected with sleeping-rooms on the upper
floor.
Fig. 444. — ^Plan of a Shop
3, Shop proper, with counter, bent at a right angle.
The counter contains openings for vessels, .^t its end
a small stove (provisions, including cooked food, were
soldhere). Shelves along the walls. 4, Staircase leading
to rooms above; 5, back rooms; 1, causeway; 3,
sidewalk
Fig. 445. — 'Front view of a Shop in Pompeii
(Reconstruction)
On the street-front was the counter, past which people could walk
directly into the house. The counter often had openings into which
goods or vessels could be placed (Figs. 444, 445, and4ii). The door-
step in front of the shop was provided for about three-quarters of its
length with a narrow groove. Narrow planks with overlapping edges
could be pushed sideways into this groove when the shop was to be
shut up.
Fig. 446. — ^Entrance of a Roman Shop
a, Device for locking the door ; b, groove cut in the doorstep
A movable door turning on hinges was placed on the threshold at the
point where the groove ended. In the daytime it was thrown back ; at
night it was pushed forward and firmly fastened to the adjoining plank of
the shutter with a lock. In this way the shop was entirely closed, the
planks reaching as a rule to the upper transverse beam, as is shown by the
grooves there (Figs. 446-448).
DOORS 335
DOORS
The various apartments of a house were shut off from each other by
means of doors, or often simply by curtains. Like the street-doors, these
interior doors were made of wood, preferably of the cypress, oak or deal.
Hard wood, such as box-tree, oak, olive, or elm-tree, was used for the
pivots and the bolts. The wood had to be well seasoned, and was often
left in the press for years after having been glued, in order to prevent it
from warping, The doors of the rich were veneered and adorned with
bronze, ivory and other ornaments. In order to counteract the wai-ping
of the wood, the doors were not constructed of boards but were provided
with panels {paginae : Pliny, XVI, 225}. These panels were let in below
the surface, and the angle between the frame and panels was filled in by a
moulded fillet. Ancient doors did not turn on hinges like those of our
day but swung round on pivots {oxQ6q)iyyeg, cardines, scapi cardinales)
fixed in the threshold and the lintel. It has been mentioned above that
these pivots were made of hard wood, but more frequently they were cast
in bronze. Sometimes the doors had special timbers {dt^oveg; that is,
axles), the top and bottom of which projected as tenons. These tenons
moved in mortises or bronze bearings which were let into the threshold and
the lintel. More often, however, the bronze caps were directly fastened
to the pivots, or the pivots as well as the mortises were protected by
bronze shoes. Later, the bronze shoes were provided with a point under-
neath, to give the door firmness, and to ensure the stability of the
mechanism. The door was fastened by means of bolts (pessuli) which
slid into the lintel and the threshold, or by means of transverse beams
which lay across the door and fitted into holes in the door-posts. A curious
way of fastening the door from the inside was to plant a rafter firmly
at an angle against it, the lower end being held in position by a stone
336 HABITATIONS
which was fastened into the ground and left projecting. Beside these
contrivances, however, locks were used during the whole of antiquity.
LOCKS AND KEYS
Locks and keys are already referred to in Homer’s Odyssey (XXI, 5, 42) .
The genesis of the key is to be explained as follows : a door was fastened
originally by a bolt which fitted into a hole in the door-post, or in the case
of folding doors, into a clamp nailed to one of its wings. As this contriv-
ance could easily be undone, an obstacle was created in the form of a
notch made for one or more pegs in the bolt. In order to open the bolt the
pegs had first to be removed from the notch. This could easily be done
from the inside, but from the outside a special in.strument had to be
applied. This led to the invention of the key, the earliest form of which
Figs. 449-451. — Models of Roman Keys
was a rod with pinnacle-like projections. When necessary, the part of
the rod with these projections was bent in such a w'ay that the bolts could
easily be reached through a hole in the door, the keyhole. Keys of this
kind were used very long ago in ancient Egypt. The parts of the lock
described above were originally made of wood, and so, probably, was the
key with which it was necessary to be able to exert the required pressure.
Later it was made of bone, and finally of metal. In isolated cases
locks were made of metal, even in Eg5rpt. The ancient Egyptian locks
known to us from the age of Ramses II (1292-1225 b.c.) were also used
by the Greeks and Romans, and still continue in use in the East. Accord-
ing to the explanations given by Diels and the reconstructions made by
Jacobi, they were made in the following manner. For simplicity we shall
assume that the lock lies in such a position that a straight key may be
used, though it makes no difference if the position of the lock renders it
necessary to use a bent key, examples of which have been found in Egypt.
The key may have any desired number of prongs or teeth. It can be intro-
duced either into the incision made specially in the bolt R, or into the case
above (Figs. 449-451). When it has entered the bolt it is pressed a little
upwards, by which action the plugs or pegs B that had previously fallen
into the notches of the bolt are lifted. The teeth of the key will then
take the place previously occupied by the pegs in the openings of the
upper part of the bolt which reach down to the keyhole. It is then easy
LOCKS AND KEYS 337
to pull out the bolt towards the outer end of the keyhole. Only one hand
is needed for this kind of lock ; but if the key is inserted into a'lock of the
second kind the small pegs are lifted so much by the pressure of one hand
that they leave the notches in the bolt. The bolt itself can then be pulled
out by the other hand. The fact that these pegs are called pdKavoi,
that is, acorns, gives rise to the name balanos-lock. Its mechanism has
served as the basis of the locks of many modern safes, such as the Yale
lock, in which the teeth of the key are of different lengths and have to fit
most accurately into the wards filed into the lamella-shaped plugs.
Otherwise the latter cannot be lifted high enough to fasten the lock.
The ancient Greek lock mentioned by Homer chiefly consisted of a wooden
bolt which was fastened to the inside of the door (Figs. 452 and 453).
Fig. 4 52 . — Homeric Lock . The original
form had only one protuberance
The above model byBrinkmaun (see Figs. 449-5i)
corresponds to a type which was probably also used
by the ancients; as It has three protuberances
wider play of the bolt is obtained
Fig. 453. — ^The Unlocking of a
Homeric Lock, on a Greek vase
Berlin .Utes Museum, Antiquarium. For explana-
tion, see the text, which is based on Diels’
description
By means of a narrow thong the bolt was pulled from the outside into
the clamp and thus fastened the door. The strap was then tied into a
knot. If the door was to be re-opened from the outside, the knot was
untied and the bolt pushed backwards by a long hooked key. What the
key looked like is seen from pictures (Figs. 453 and 454) and above all
from a key found in the temple of Artemis at Lusoi in Arcadia. As
Brinkmann suggests, the key probably had several protuberances {a) by
which the bolt could be pushed back by the key (Fig. 452). This con-
trivance was not absolutely trustworthy. That is why the ‘ prudent ’
Penelope ties the strap into quite a special knot. During the post-Iiomeric
period this kind of lock was more and more perfected ; Schliemann found,
during his excavations at Mycenae and Troy, iron keys with wards or
three teeth as well as a ring for suspending them (Fig. 435). The metal,
and particularly the iron, lock was not really developed until the Roman
period. The whole make-up of the Roman lock proves clearly that it
evolved from the ancient wooden lock. The essential improvement was
brought about by the use of a spring which pressed the small pegs into
the notches of the bolt and made it more difficult to raise them. More
Fig. 454. — Female Servant with Key (Attic i-elief on a grave)
455. — Key from Ilium (Troy) , Fig. 456.- -Roman Key
striicted in such a way that the key was not thrust in straight but hooked
in diagonally to the left, then placed at right angles and lifted a little in
order to fit the key-bit into the notches of the bolt. The bit then dis-
placed the pins, which were wedged into the notches and pressed down by
the spihng. The bolt was next moved to the right by the key and the
lock was opened. In the older locks the key could not be withdrawn
as long as the bolt was not shot. But later Roman locks have devices
which allow the key to be removed.
the pegs. In the meantime the pegs altered. They became straight pins
which often glided in grooves and were pressed down by a spring, which
enabled the bolt to be moved forwards or backwards. The mechanism
is thus the same as that of the hair-trigger-lock of fireproof money chests
(Figs. 457 and 458). The keyhole of Roman locks (Fig. 459) was con-
HABITATIONS
pressure had to be applied to lift them and so it was found necessary to
make the key of metal. In addition, the position of the pegs was altered
in such a way that they could be moved only by certain keys. Thus the
key-bit varied in different cases and often showed a very complicated
form (Fig. 456). It catches in the cell-like gaps of the bolts and displaces
LOCKS AND KEYS J3(;
A very frequent form of key was the ‘ linger-ring key ’ ; it was originally
made of bronze, and later of silver and gold. It was worn by the head
Figs. 457 and 458. — Roman Trigger-lock with spring, pegs moving in groove,s, and a key
(Same principle as the Yale lock.) Model in the Deutsches Museum, Munich
of the family on the middle finger of the left hand as a sign of authority.
At a subsequent period this sort of key was worn by elegant Roman ladies
as an ornament.
Fig. 459.— Roman Keyhole and Key
Model in the Deutsches Museum, Munich
-Roman Padlock
against the opening and prevented unlocking. If J:he lock was to be
opened this spring had to be compressed by means of the key (Fig. 460).
MONUMENTAL AND PUBLIC EDIFICES
A ntiquity produced a great number of monuments and public
buildings, often of truly colossal dimensions. Many of them are
even superior to anything constructed by the highly developed
technical science of our time. The gigantic mass of material used to
build them has often led to the belief that the ancients must have had at
their command special technical devices which were more efficient than
our modern means but have been lost and forgotten. Nothing can be more
fallacious. The technical resources were altogether very simple, as has
been shown in the chapter on ' Technical Mechanics and Machines '.
The prodigious achievements of the ancients were entirely due to the fact
that both human labour and time had a low value, and could be supplied
on a lavish scale quite foreign to our present-day standards.
But on the whole little remains to be said about the general technical
criteria of monumental and public buildings that is not treated in detail
in other sections of this book, such as the section on ‘ Building Imple-
ments Generally speaking, the ancients erected them according to the
conventional principles of their time, which were also applied to the
construction of houses and fortifications. Yet some of these buildings
exhibit technical characteristics which are peculiar to themselves alone,
and the purpose of the following pages is to discuss these peculiarities
more closely. If any particular monumental edifice is ignored this is
is to be taken as signifying that it lacks these peculiarities, and that it was
built according to the general methods and with the means dealt with
in other chapters. The size of a building, taken alone, is not a technical
peculiarity.
THE PYRAMIDS
Among the monumental edifices distinguished by a special technique
the pyramids occupy the foremost rank. There are in Egypt some eighty
royal tombs of pyramidal form and in a state of complete or partial
preservation. The largest and most important of all is that of Cheops.
The lower part of this pyramid as well as the subterranean sepulchral
vault hewn in the living rock was built by Cheops (Khufu) II (about
2600 B.c.) and the gigantic work was completed ultimately by Chabryes
(Khofra),the fourth king of the Fourth Dynasty, who had a magnificent
sepulchral chamber constructed in the upper part of the pyramid.^ The
subterranean vault remained a crude unfinished cavity. 1 he length of the
base-lines of the edifice amounts to about 775 ft. and the height to 493 ft.
^ This statement is far from certain, see Flinders Petrie, History of Egypt,
i, p. 56 et seqq.
340
THE PYRAMIDS
342
Over two and a half million cubic metres of masonry were necessary to
build it. The material used was nummulitie, limestone obtained from the
large quarries in the Mokattam mountains near Cairo.
\\diat is most remarkable about this pyramid is the way in which
mathematics enters into its technical construction. Sir Isaac Newton in
the seventeenth century studied this aspect, but it was not till the nine-
teenth century that the majority of the underlying problems was solved.
The mathematical relationships .show what astounding knowledge of
mathematics and astronomy the ancient Egyptians possessed, and how well
they knew the way to apply it to their most striking monumental works.
The four sides of the p5n-amid accurately coincide with the four cardinal
points, and this fact has led Biot and others to believe that they were
intended to ascertain the dates of the equinoxes in the following way :
the day was noted on which the centre of the rising or setting sun coin-
cided with the northern or southern base-line of the pyramid. Similarly
the eastern and western amplitudes were determined for any day of the
year by measuring the angle T which has a maximum value of 27° there
(Figs. 461 and 462). But there were also astronomical observations that
could be carried out by means of the pyramid, as the sections made
through its apex from north to south and from east to west coincide with
the meridian planes and the prime vertical respectively, and the Pharaoh,
according to the view of the Egyptians, was the luminous pole about which
the world revolved. This idea was expressed in the technical proportion
of the pyramid in that the adit leading down into the subterranean
sepulchre had an inclination of exactly 27°. As the earth’s axis is not
fixed, but, on account of precession, describes a circular cone of angle
23|'° in about 26,000 years around the poles of the ecliptic, any star lying
in the neighbourhood of that circle becomes a pole star once in this time.
At present this position is held by the star a of the Little Bear. In the
time of Cheops, however, according to the calculations of Flammarion
and Ule, the star a of the Dragon (Draco) was the pole star, which at
that time stood nearly 3° away from the north pole, Accordingly the
height of its upper culmination was 30° -f- 3° — 33“, and the height of
its lower culmination 30° — 3° = 27° (strictly speaking, 26° 18' lo").
As the adits leading to the sepulchral vault showed the same inclina-
tion, the rays of the polar star when at its lower culmination must have
fallen directly on the dead Pharaoh, the deceased centre of the con-
temporary world. Herschel, who also studied the astronomical prob-
lems of the Cheops pyramid, conjectured that the lower culmination of
the contemporary pole star was chosen because in 2160 B.c. the star
Alcyone in the Pleiades, which was so familiar to the ancients, and is now
the star 7] of Taurus, happened to cross the meridian above the pole at
the very point where the star a of the Dragon had its lower culmination.
This was a coincidence of two astronomical events that repeats itself
only after 25,827 years. For this reason Herschel attributes a great
significance to the year 2160 B.C. in the history of the construction of the
pyramid. To judge from a theory put forth by several investigators,
the periodic cycle of 25,827 years which is due to the precession of the
342 MONUMENTAL AND PUBLIC EDIFICES
equinoxes has also received expression in the pyramid, inasmuch as
its circumference at the height of the floor of the upper royal vault
amounts to 25,837 pyramid units (see below).
Veit
Zenith
THE PYRAMIDS
343
But this is not all . The brightly shining star Sirius, which the Egyptians
called Sothis, in the southern sky was the object of special worship,
because to them it was the embodiment of the goddess Isis. By means
of this star they fixed their years and important dates. From the
sepulchral vault ventilating shafts led towards the outside. The four
planes of the pyramid were inclined in such a way that the rays of Sirius
when culminating fell on the southern plane, hit it exactly at right angles,
and passed straight through the ventilating shafts, which also met the
plane of the pyramid perpendicularly, into the sepulchral vault, lighting
up the sarcophagus of the dead Pharaoh. At the time of Cheops Sirius
culminated in Egypt at an altitude of nearly 38°. Consequently the
planes of the pyramid had to be given an inclination of go° — 38® 52°
(strictly speaking, 51° 51' 14-3"). Before discussing another correlation
of this figure with the pyramid we wish to point out that a result of this
inclination of 52° was that at midday the sun lit up the pyramid in such a
manner as to produce no shadow from the last days of February to the
middle of October. This again is symbolical. From Nature’s awakening
at midday in spring till the beginning of her autumnal decline, Ra, the
God of the Sun, pours the full lustre of his rays on to the resting-place of
the Pharaoh. Moreover, Schoy points out that the pyramid, on account
of its orientation and the inclination of its planes, could well serve as a
gnomon (hand of a sun-dial), for it was possible to ascertain fairly accu-
rately the beginning of the four seasons by the distribution of light on
the planes, the possible error being less than 24 hours for the equinoxes
and less than 42 hours for the solstices.
The same angle of 51° 51' 14-3" occurs in the facing-stones that,
centuries ago, were removed from the pyramid to Cairo and used for
building houses. To-day the pyramid appears as a structure rising in
steps. But this is only the core. When originally covered with the
facing-stones the surface of the pyramid was so smooth that it was
impossible to ascend it. In 1837 two of these facing-stones were dis-
covered by Floward Vyse. Since then Dow Covington has found other
traces of the facing on the northern base-line. The facing-stones astonish
us with the precise workmanship of their surfaces, corners and edges.
They must have fitted together extraordinarily well. If we calculate
from the mathematical proportions of the pyramid such as it was when
covered with the facing-stone, we come to the surprising conclusion,
according to Piazzi Smyth, that the perimeter of the quadrangular base
(3,095 ft. 6 in.) is equal to the circumference of a circle of radius equal
to the height of the pyramid, namely 492 ft. 3 in. Or circumference
equals 2 X 492 ft. 3 in. X tt ~ 3095 ft. 6 in.
As this can hardly be pure chance, we must assume that the builders
of the p3n:amid knew the famous ratio n — 3’i4i59 of the circumference
of a circle to its diameter thousands of years ago ; moreover, they applied
it in their mechanical arts ; it was hot rediscovered in later times till the
Dutch mathematician Ludolf van Ceulen calculated it in the sixteenth
century.
The solar year of our earth has 365*2422 days. If we divide a base-
344 MONUMENTAL AND PUBLIC EDIFICES
line of the pyramid by this figure the result is a unit which recurs so often
in the dimensions of the vaults and galleries that Smyth has called it the
pyramid-metre (0-635 m. or 2 ft. 22 in.). Strange to say, this unit is
exactly the ten- millionth part of half the polar axis of the globe. If
the pyramid-metre is divided into 25 equal parts, a new unit will be
obtained.the ‘ pyramid-inch ’, which was probably used by the builders
of the pyramid, for it seems to be represented on a plate of granite found
in front of the entrance to the royal chamber. The perimeter of the base of
the pyramid is 3,6524-2 pyramid-inches, being the figures which represent
the solar year of the earth. The axis of the earth has a length of 5-10’
pyramid-inches. The distance between the sun and the earth amounts
to 10^ times the height of the p5nramid, another striking fact which surely
Fig. 463. — ^Vertical section through the Pyramid of Cheops
cannot be a whim of chance. Rather it gives us an insight into the
amazing astronomical knowledge of the ancient Egyptians, or at least of
their priests. For the rest, the figures 10 and 9, which certainly do not
occur as accidental expressions of the ratio between the sun and the
pyramid, are also found in the external dimensions : the height of the
pyramid is to half the diagonal of its base as 9 is to 10.
These remarks show on what wonderful mathematical calculations
and astronomical relations the dimensions, planes and angles of the
pyramid are based, and what secrets and problems it contains, of which
perhaps only a part have been unfolded. On the other hand, the investi-
gations of Dow Covington have revealed what a great technical feat
was accomplished in constructing this miraculous work. One hundred
SPHINXES
345
thousand workers piled up stones for twenty years (Herodotus, II, 124)
and arranged not less than 2,300,000 blocks in 210 successive layers.
The facing was made of white limestone, so that the pyramid must
originally have presented to the onlooker a truly dazzling aspect in the
bright rays of the Egyptian sun. After the southern ventilating shaft
mentioned earlier, as well as another facing the north, had been cleared,
it was found that the air streaming through them produced musical
sounds resembling those of an Aeolian harp. These sounds were different
for each shaft, but if heard together they were all in harmony. The royal
chamber is made of polished granite, being composed of exactly one
hundred blocks. Above it there are five more chambers, which were first
discovered by Davidson in 1763. They are constructed in such a way
that the ceiling of one forms the floor of the next above. The granite
slabs of the ceiling are carefully polished, whereas those of the floors are
left rough and uneven. What purpose these chambers served has
remained a secret till the present day. Nor has it ever been explained
how the empty and lidless royal sarcophagus was conveyed into the
sepulchral vault, all the galleries, shafts and adits being much too narrow
to let it pass. So many questions arise in the case of the large pyramid
that doubts have been entertained whether it is a royal tomb at all.
From time to time the theory has been proposed that it served only to
fix for ever the standard mea.sure of the Egyptians, the pyramid-metre,
just as the standard measure of the metric system is nowadays preserved,
in a vault of the International Bureau for Weights and Measures at St.
Cloud near Paris, .safe from fire, thieves and shocks ; it is the standard
metre, which is made of an alloy of platinum and iridium, this metal
being humanly speaking unchangeable for all time. Moreover, .starting
from the false assumption that the length of the axis of the earth is invari-
able, its inventors referred the length of the metre to the dimensions of the
earth in order that the standard metre may be reconstructed at any time
in case it should get lo.st. Perhaps the Egyptians had a similar object in
view. But these are mere conjectures, although put forward by technical
experts. Nevertheless it is striking that the pyramid of Cheops is the
only one to exhibit the above mathematical and astronomical relations.
All the other pyramids are deficient in them ; they are not even orientated
towards the four cardinal points. For the present the theory must be
accepted that the large pyramid of Cheops, like other pyramids, was the
burial-place of the Egyptian king,
SPHINXES
Among the masterpieces of ancient Egyptian monuments we must also
count the sphinxes, which excite our astoni.shment not only on account
of their size but equally much on account of their consummate execution.
■We admire the dying lion of Lucerne, cut out of the rock by Thorwaldsen.
But if we consider only its dimensions and not its artistic value, what does
it signify in comparison with the great sphinx situated near the pyramids
of Gizeh ? They are both made- of one block, but the sphinx is no less
than 77 ft. high and igo ft; long. What must have been the size of the
346 MONUMENTAL AND PUBLIC EDIFICES
block out of which this overwhelming masterpiece was sculptured with a
skill that does not cease to inspire the deepest admiration !
But this is not the only sphinx. There are a great number of others,
all of which are, however, monoliths in spite of the fact that the material
of which they are composed was by no means always easy to work.
Sometimes sandstone was used, but more often porphyry ; mostly, how-
ever, granite of such hardness that the very best modern steel chisels
rapidly blunt themselves on it. Many of these sphinxes were probably
polished like a mirror ; but how was this achieved, by what means, and
how long did it take to polish surfaces of such colossal dimensions ?
All these are problems which may perhaps never reach solution.
The sphinxes are usually found placed in front of temples. In front of
smaller temples we find thirty to forty, but hundreds have often been
found near large temples. In spite of this great number not a single sphinx
has been discovered in a good state of preservation. In the course
of time they have all been worn away by the sand of the desert or
destroyed by human hands. We now know that the sphinxes are repre-
sentations of Egyptian kings, though in the shape of animals. The
largest of all known sphinxes lies in front of the pyramids at Gizeh, where
it was buried in the sand of the desert till 1817. In that year it was
excavated at the request of the European consuls, when it was at once
found to be cut out of the bed rock of the earth. A magnificent staircase
was found leading up to the monument, and between its forelegs a care-
fully paved terrace was laid bare which led to a shrine built against the
breast of the colossus. The entrance to the shrine was near the right
fore-paw. The face of the sphinx looks directly towards the east. The
excavation of the monument cost a great sum and twenty years later
everything that had been brought to light was again buried in the sands
whirled up by the winds. In 1843 a second excavation was organized
by Lepsius, the German Egyptologist, a third by Marietta in 1853, and a
fourth by Maspero in 188^6. They all led to the conviction that the
sphinx had been covered up at least 3,400 years ago and laid bare again
by King Thothmes IV in 1533 b.c. Some time or other it must have been
buried with intention, for in certain places layers of sand with strata of
small stones one foot high have been discovered piled up round the sphinx
and cemented so well as to make it possible to cut steps. The colossus
has been excavated again recently, and in spite of the damage it has
suffered, it has proved possible, by repeated investigations, to obtain a
true conception of its original appearance. The ancient Egyptian stone-
masons showed great discrimination in choosing a rock, part of which
projected sufficiently far to make it well suited for the head of a monu-
ment. Fig. 464 conveys an idea of the appearance of this sphinx which
was created some 6,000 years ago. It is certainly more than 5,600 years
old. The face bears the features of a king, probably of Amenemhat
III of the Twelfth Dynasty. But it is not out of the question that it is
the face of the God of the Sun. The former assumption, however, seems
confirmed by the strangely folded kerchief which, in this form, belongs to
the symbols of royal rank, as also the uraeus on the forehead of the
TEMPLES
347
colossus. Under its chin there is to be seen the strange artificial beard
worn by the ancient Egyptians on festive occasions, when it was fixed to
the chin by means of a string. In front of the breast between the fore-
paws of the sphinx a large tablet is seen which reports in the form of a
dialogue that King Thothmes IV, mentioned above, soon after his accession
in 1533 B.c. ordered the colossus to be freed from the sands of the desert.
A BME^SSUNG CN
Fig. 464. — Reconstruction of the Sphinx
Next to the tablet, near the right fore-paw, there is the entrance of the
temple, which has also been referred to above. Opposite to the sphinx
there is the gigantic staircase leading down to the temple. A point worthy
of particular notice is that the creators of the monument are very unlikely
to have worked from a model, as the dimensions of the colossus under
construction rendered futile any effort to compare measurements with a
model of ordinary size.
TEMPLES
Of the temple buildings of antiquity that erected by King Solomon
about 990 B.c. is fairly accurately described in the Bible (First Book
of Kings v.-vii., Second Book of Kings xxv., Jeremiah lii., Second
Book of Chronicles ii.-iv.), but among the details given there are none of
interest from the point of view of the mechanical arts, except the fact
348 MONUMENTAL AND PUBLIC EDIFICES
that the temple proper was surrounded by lateral rooms which lay three
stories high on top of each other. The Babylonian temples had one
outstanding feature : the towers rose in terraces like steps, seven in
number — corresponding to the sacredness of the number seven. These
towers, called ‘ ziggurat were famous throughout antiquity. Their
outer walls were enamelled ; the succession of colours from below upwards
was : white, black, purple, blue, cinnabar, silver and gold. The ziggurat
of Khorsobad near Nineveh is fairly well preserved. Its lowest terrace
is 143 ft. long and as many wide, and is 20 ft. high. A ramp 8 ft. in width
and 2,666 ft. in length winds round the tower up to the top. It is the
sjDiral staircase mentioned by Herodotus (I, 181).
The temples of the ancient Egyptians, like those of the Babylonians,
were surrounded by walls of vast extent. These always formed an
elongated rectangle, and had neither windows nor pillars. Within this
wall lay the temple proper. Its roof was always horizontal, and the
facade characterized by the hollow moulding which ran along the roof ;
like the sides of the temple and the walls, the roof was covered with
numerous coloured designs. An avenue of sphinxes or crio-sphinxes
led up to the temple. The entrance was very narrow and lay between
two pylons (see below). Several outer courts followed upon the entrance,
and further inside there lay the main hall whose roof consisted of massive
cross-pieces of stone resting on close columns. The remaining rooms arc
small and narrow ; among them is the cella, in which the image of the
deity is enshrined. The columns of the Egyptian temples are remarkable
for their form as well as for their capitals, but technically there is nothing
worthy of particular remark. The attention of technical experts has,
on the other hand, been the more attracted by the pylons. As early as
the fifteenth century b.c. the Egyptians were in the habit of arranging
their temples in such a way that their entrance was formed by a large
gateway, the ‘ pylon ', which was flanked by obelisks and images of gods,
kings and other objects of worship ; it was protected by two tall towers
which resembled the towers of a fortress. On close examination it is
found that they are provided with two grooves running from top to
bottom. Some ancient drawings disclose that these grooves served to
hold high masts, to the top of which flags of various colours were hoisted.
Some of these masts reached a considerable height ; that of the temple at
Edfu, for example, was 100 ft. high. At first sight they seem to have been
merely ornamental. But there are now reasons for believing that they
served as lightning-conductors. For instance, an ancient inscription
dating from the time of the Ptolemies {323-30 b.c.) describes the masts of
the temple at Edfu in detail, stating that they were intended to conduct
the lightning. Translated from the German version of Brugsch, it reads as
follows : ‘ This is the high pylon of the god of Edfu at the throne of Horus,
the light-bringer ; masts are arranged in pairs in order to cleave the
thunderstorm in the heights of the heavens.' Another inscription says
that the mast had in many cases been ‘ covered with copper pf the
country ' in order to make them more elective. Masts of this kind
must, indeed, have been excellent lightning-conductors. Other in-
TEMPLES 349
scriptions also state that in order to make obelisks serve as lightning-
conductors the little pyramids placed on them, called ‘ pyramidions were
covered with pure copper or gilt copper.
The Hebrews, too, seem to have possessed contrivances for protecting
themselves from the dangers of lightning. The spikes on the roofs of
their temple were connected with chains and these were fixed to the
capitals of two bronze columns standing near the entrance of the hall.
The capitals ended in a water-container (First Book of Kings vii. 17,
Second Book of Chronicles in. 17). Another document which seems to
prove that the ancients were acquainted with lightning-conductors is
found in Numbers xxi. 4-9 : ' And they journeyed from mount Hor by
the way of the Red Sea, to compass the land of Edom . . . and the Lord
sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people ; and much
people of Israel died . . . and Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it
upon a pole.’ Further evidence is given in the First Book of Kings vii.
13-22 : ‘ And king Solomon sent and fetched Hiram out of Tyre , . . and
his father was a man of Tyre, a worker in brass ; and he was filled with
wisdom, and understanding, and cunning to work all works in brass.
And he came to king Solomon, and wrought all his work. For he cast two
pillars of brass, of eighteen cubits high apiece ; and a line of twelve cubits
did compass either of them about. And he made two chapiters of molten
brass, to set upon the tops of the pillars : the height of the one chapiter
was five cubits and the height of the other chapiter was five cubits. . . .
And upon the top of the pillars was lily work.’ This seems to justify the
conjecture that the metallic points on top of the columns are being referred
to as conductors. These pillars are also mentioned in the Second Book
of Chronicles hi. 15, but the height ascribed to them is nearly double.
‘ Also he made before the house two pillars of thirty and five cubits high,
and the chapiter that was on the top of each of them was five cubits.’
It is obvious that columns of that height must have been highly efficient
conductors. The two above passages in the Bible also contain an accurate
description of the water-vessel which formed the earth-contact, and an
instruction given in Exodus xxvii. 17 reads : ‘ All the pillars round about
the court shall be filleted with silver ; their hooks shall be of silver, and
their sockets of brass.’
The above Scriptural passages, taken in conjunction with some
others (Leviticus x. 2, Numbers iii. 4, First Book of Chronicles xiii.
9 and 10, and others), makes it evident that the ancients must
have found out by accident that lightning is conducted by metal rods
or that the danger of lightning is obviated by metallic contrivances.
It is not at all necessary to Imow the electric nature of lightning to
discover a fact of this kind. It is true that Martin and von Urbanitsky,
as also Hennig, deny the possibility of such contrivances having been used
before Franklin : they maintain that the texts relevant to this question
have been wrongly interpreted. But Hennig is obliged to admit that
the ancient facts and customs and the literary passages which suggest
the existence of lightning-conductors among the ancients (unless they
are wrongly interpreted of belong to the realm of meteorological super-
350
MONUMENTAL AND PUBLIC EDIFICES
stitions), ' are to be explained as an accidental and unconsciously correct
application of Franklin’s laws concerning lightning conductors (Fie is
referring in particular to the Temple of Jerusalem.) In our opinion there
Figs. 465 aiid 466. — Original forms of Greek Temples
is no doubt that the ancients, without knowing the nature of lightning,
used protective measures against it, which they had found out to be
effective by experience.
Fig ‘467 — Ground- Fig. 468. — ^Templum Fig. 469. Tern- Fig. 470. — Ground-
plan of the original i"- antis : a, cella plum in antis with plan of [the Prostyle
Greek Temple (naos) ; 6, vestibule back vestibule : e. Temple
(pronaos): c, columns; opisthodomiis
d, antae
The Greek, and later on, also the Roman temples are remarkable for
the technical development of the columns ; this applies also to the ground-
plan, which was influenced by the way in which the columns were placed.
Fig. 471. — Plan of a Prostyle Temple. The temple of Jupiter at Pompeii, aa, apertures
for admitting light into the cellar below the temple
The oldest known temple in Olympia and in Hellas is the Heraion, the
temple of Hera. Its columns exhibit such differences that they must be
A [.j
L._L„
! i )
} 1 ! ' 1 ™
■i
-'liip
TEMPLES
351
assumed to have consisted originally of wood and to have been gradually
replaced by columns of stone at a later period. This assumption is con-
Fig. 472. -Peripteral Temple Fig. 473. — Plan of the Temple of
Apollo at Bassae : example of a
peripteral temple
firmed by Pausanias (V, 16, i), who at as late a time as the second cen-
tury B.c. observed that certain ancient columns and even whole temples
consisted of wood ( VIIL 10,2). Pliny also mentions temples with wooden
Fig. 474. — Peripteral Temple with five frontal columns. (Temple at Thermos in Aetolia)
111 most cases the peripteral temples have six frontal columns and double that number on the sides, including the
columns in the corners. Figs. 473 and 474 are exceptions to this rule
columns (XIV, 9). In point of fact the stone column evolved from the
vertically placed wooden post which was originally used to support the
roof. Probably it first appeared as a column of the Doric type, a sup-
position which seems confirmed by the above-mentioned temple of Plera.
We shall not follow the further developments of these columns from
the artistic point of view, but shall simply consider their technical aspects,
regarding them as the supporting elements of buildings, particularly of
temples. We first notice that temples in their oldest forms could entirely
dispense with columns. They consisted only of the simple cella, which
contained nothing but the image of the deity and the sacrificial table on
the altar for incense (Figs. 465, 466, and 467). In the next stage the
lateral walls of the cella were extended in a forward direction and closed
by frontal columns {antae> parasfas). The elongated lateral walls were
covered by a roof, which was further supported by columns standing
352 MONUMENTAL AND PUBLIC EDIFICES
between the antae. In this way an open vestibule, called pronaos, was
createdin front of the temple (Fig. 468). The ground-plan of the temple
assumed a new characteristic form (teniplum in
antis, the temple with antae). To make it pos-
sible to enter the cella from the back, the rear
part of the temple was provided, with a similar
vestibule ; so the ground-plan became further trans-
formed, being characterized by the back vestibule,
the opisthodomos (Fig, 469). The next stage of
development is the prostyle temple, in which the
vestibule is no longer carried by walls and antae
but entirely by columns (Figs. 470 and 471).
The prostyle or pillared vestibule may be combined with a simple
rectangular cella or a temple in antis. If another prostyle is added to
the back of the temple a new form arises called / amphiprostyle '. If a
colonnade is built right round the cella so as to form an open walk on all
Fig. 475,— Special form
of the Peripteral Temple
in which the columns
are connected with the
lateral walls of the cella
by low walls, thus pro-
ducing little chapels for
receivi ng votive offerings
Fig. 476, — Dipteral Temple
Fig. 477. — Pseudo-dipteral Temple
four sides the result will be the .peripteros (Figs. 472-475), whose name
is due to the lateral colonnades being called ' wings ' {Ttregd, e.g. the
Fig. 478.— Ruins of a Pseudo-dipteral Temple (the/omw? triangulare at Pompeii)
cmains of the columns and the intervals between, them allowed the type of the temple to be ascertained with
ccnrary. The substructure is surrounded by a flight of steps, a characteristic feature of Greek temples
Parthenon). A special form of the peripteral temple, the 'pseudo-
peripteros ', was developed by the Romans. In it the columns no longer
THEATRES
Fig. 479. — Circular Roman Temple (Monopteros),
the ‘ Temple of the Sibyl ’ at Tivoli
serve to support the roof of the colonnade, hut simply to simulate a
peripteros from the front. For this purpose they are attached to the
lateral walls as semi-columns.
If the row of columns
in the peripteral temple is
doubled in such a way that
two parallel colonnades or
galleries are formed, a new
type arises which is called
dipteros or dipteral temple
(Fig. 476), which may
again give rise to the
pseudodiptews (Fig. 477) in
which the inner row of
columns is left out. But
in this case the empty
space between the walls of
the cella and the outer
columns is as large as in a
dipteral temple. This
form is exemplified in the
fomm triangulare at Pom-
peii (Fig. 478). The Greek
temple was orientated in
an east-west direction in
such a way that it was
entered from the east, the
image of the deity being
placed in the western
part. Roman temples show
no .such orientation ; they
were placed in any direc-
tion. Whereas the base
of the cella of the Greek temple always has the form of an elongated
rectangle, the Roman cella originally covered one-half of a square, the
other half being occupied by the vestibule. This division into two sections
was still retained at a later age when the square was enlarged into an oblong.
In Roman temples the threshold of the cella invariably coincided with the
bisecting line of the ground- plan. Finally the Greek temples were bordered
all round by a series of steps leading up to them, whereas the Roman temples
stood on a substructure which was ascended by steps from the front only.
THEATRES
Among the public buildings of the ancients the theatres held a very
important place. Apart from the circuses and stadia, which are of little
technical interest, there are two main kinds of theatres, namely the
theatres proper or playhouses', and' the amphitheatres in which not only
T.A.S .— -23
354 MONUMENTAL AND PUBLIC EDIFICES
plays but all sorts of other performanGes, such as gladiatorial combats,
fights with animals, or naval battles, were also enacted. The playhouses
in particular were objects of great veneration in ancient Greece. They,
together with the temples, were regarded as the noblest buildings, and the
drama had the importance of a divine service ; it culminated in the
Dionysiac cult. The oldest form of the theatre must have been some-
thing resembling an amusements park in the open air, that is, an enclosed
lawn in which the performances took place, the spectators standing round.
Fig. 48o.~-The Theatre of Pergamon
Ives a clear picture of all parts of a Greek theatre. The acclivity of the hill serv
toriura. On the tejiace at the foot of the hill the orchestra is seen ; behind it w
foundation for the audi-
/e the skene
Later on a wooden platforin was raised on which the representations took
place. In order -to make it easier for the spectators to follow the proceed-
ings, the circular or semicircular stage, called the orchestra, was placed
at the foot of a hill on the slopes of which the spectators stationed them-
selves. For the comfort of the spectators seating accommodation was
provided by digging terraces, one above another, out of the side of the hill
so that the spectators were arranged in rows. From this stage it was but
a step to construct the auditorium of stone. Even the oldest ruins of
theatres preserved at Knossos show that the theatre was divided into two
THEATRES
which they made their exits after their scenes. The theatre at Athens,
dating from the fourth century b.c^ was built of stone except ih^skene,
whose floor was still laid on woodeji , scaffoldings. The orchestra, how-
ever, had in isolated instances been constructed of stone at an earlier
355
parts : a space J'or performing the plays (the orchestra) and a space for the
spectators [theatron) . Later a third part was added, the skene ; it w^as a
wa:oden booth from which the actors made their entrances, and into
356 MONUMENTAL AND PUBLIC EDIFICES
period. The theatre lay at the foot of the Acropolis, part of the rock being
used as a back wall and a foundation. But also in other parts of Greece
there was a predilection for building theatres in rocks or against hills in
such a way that the slopes formed a natural back wall, and at the same
time the groundwork (Fig. 480). Generally speaking the Greek theatre
was arranged as follows (Fig. 482) : the circular orchestra was the centre
round which all the other parts were grouped. At about the year 400 b.c.
the floor of the orchestra was made of earth, and in the middle of it was an
altar, the thymele, round which the chorus moved. The orchestra was
partly surrounded by the auditorium, which rose in the form of a horse-
shoe on the slope of a hill or on an artificial foundation made of walls of
different height, the intervening spaces being filled with earth. Opposite
to the auditorium stood the skene, which derives its name from its
originally unimposing appearance — hut, tent) ; in most cases it
had an odd number of doors, of which the middle one was called the king’s
door. Later on the stage space in which the drama was mainly
enacted, was usually closed not only at the back but also on both sides by
the structure of the skene, which was occasionally three stories high.
Projecting parts on both sides of the skene, the paraskmia, served to hold
between them a painted wall, the proskeniom. Subsequently the back-
ground could be opened out by a special contrivance, the exostra or
ekkyklema, which allowed the spectator to see what was happening inside
the building. The theatre was entered by the parodoi, two spaces inter-
vening between the skene and the auditorium. These parodoi also gave
access to the orchestra. The stage had entrances at the rear and others
at the sides of the skene. The stage could also be mounted from the front,
but not by means of stairs as was erroneously assumed formerly, for the
orchestra was level with the stage ^ (Dorpfeld and Reisch). The theatre
was provided with various machinery which served not only to open up
the back of the stage but also to work traps or to shift various pieces of
scenery. Theatres even had wings of a kind, the periacts ; they were
triangular wooden prisms, which turned on pivots near the paraskenia.
The three sides were painted with different- views which were turned
towards the auditorium according to the demands of the play. Possibly
the pictures could even be removed from the sides of the periacts and so
give place to still more scenes. The auditorium was divided into a
number of blocks of tiers, kerkides, by a wide corridor, the diazoma,
sometimes by several such corridors running parallel with the outer
circular walls, and by stairs ascending radially from the orchestra to the
circumference. The best seats were those nearest the orchestra or the
diazoma ; they were reserved for the priests and persons of rank, and
others to whom this honorary privilege, the proedria, was granted.
The stage of the Roman theatre, like that of the Greek, was originally
a planked scaffolding with the onlookers standing in front. Wooden
tiers for them were not built till after the year 145 b.c. ^ The first theatre
^ This theory is now generally abandoned, — Trans,
® A mistake : they had been in use earlier, but had been temporarily done
away with. — Trans.
THEATRES 357
to consist of stone was erected by Pompey in 55 b.c. In 13 b.c. the Theatre
of Marcellus was built, of which some ruins are still preserved. The Roman
theatre resembled the Greek, being divided into three parts, namely,
the space for the spectators, called cavea m Latin, the orchestray and the
stage, called scaena. Thereis practically no essential structural difference
between the Greek and the Roman theatres. This similarity is even seen
in the dimensions of the stage, which is comparatively wide but not deep,
so that its ruins show a long, narrow, rectangular ground-plan. The
orchestra of the Roman theatre has, however, no altar, the reason for this
being that with the Romans the drama had lost its religious quality.
But there are some further differences : the Roman orchestra was covered
with rows of seats for the spectators of noble rank {podium) and was thus
very much reduced in size. As the orchestra and the stage proper were
on a level in the Greek theatre it was difficult for the spectators on the
orchestra to overlook the skene or the place from which the actors were
talking. This place, the pulpitum, was therefore deepened. In addition
the Roman stage was furnished with a curtain, the aulaeum, and the cavea
with an awning in order to protect the spectators from the sun. In the
Greek theatre only the skene had been covered over and possibly also
the topmost circular gallery which ran along the outer fringe of the
auditorium. All the rest of the, theatre was left uncovered.
The ancient theatres were extremely large, some holding as many as
20,000 people. The acoustics of these buildings was therefore a matter of
35<S MONUMENTAL AND PUBLIC EDIFK'ES
great importance. Not only did the builders endeavour to make a theatre
a, satisfactory resonance chamber as a whole, they also placed special
bronze vessels, called echeia (.see Vitruvius, V, 5, i sqq.), in recesses ;
these were intended to magnify the sound. Moreover, the masks of
the actors were shaped in such a way as to strengthen the sound. The
Fig. 483. — Plan of an open Roman Theatre (the large theatre at Pompeii)
On the right, part of the tiers, the stage and the floor. On the left, by removing the floor we. get a view of the
stairs, the corridors and the substructure of the stag?, t, Circular vaulted gallery ; 2, corridor ; 3, ’gallery ; 4 stairs ;
5. e.xit ; 7, entrances of the orchestra ; 8. doors ; A, court in which the choru.s asseinbied ; b) propertv-room ;
C, ramp ; P, the actors’ rooms ; s, stone rings for attaching the awning ; p, room in which the curtain was' folded
.V, staircase leading to the rooms below
point has been frequently raised how it was that these masks, which were
after all a hindrance to the actors, continued in use for such a long time
instead of being replaced by natural facial expression. If we consider
the colossal size and the openness of the ancient theatres it is obvious that
great demands were made on the human voice. No actor would have
360 MONUMENTAL AND PUBLIC EDIFICES
been able to shout through a leading part and sustain a tone which could
be heard all over the theatre. It was soon discovered that the opened
mouth of a mask could easily be formed into a sort of speaking-tube.
The mouths of all ancient stage-masks are shaped in a most peculiar
fashion. Following a suggestion by Cast ex, replicas of such masks
were made for special acoustic experiments in which both actors and
singers with voices of different pitches, that is, basses, sopranos and others
Fig. 487. — ^The Colosseum, in, Rome (seen from the outside)
Since a circular orchestra, siich as the ring of a modern circus, gives only
limited freedom of movement^ an oval shape, as long as possible, was
AMPHITHEATRES
participated. A number of spectators were also engaged in order that the
action of these masks should be thoroughly tested in every d irection . The
very first experiments with masks revealed that to the hearers the intcn.sity
of the human voice appeared strikingly increased. Words spoken in a
low voice without a mask were found to be unintelligible to the audience,
but when a mask was applied the words were easily understood in all
parts without the speaker increasing his efforts. Further, the voice
became more distinct. This result was considerably more marked in the
case of tones of higher pitch. The tone was neither blurred nor did it
acquire a nasal quality through the mask. The peculiar formation of its :
mouth caused the sound to be conveyed with increased intensity not
only towards the front but also tow>^ards the sides of the auditorium. The
actor at once felt in his voice a sensation of increased carrying power.
Pie found the simple face-masks to be acoustically superior to the animal
masks which covered the whole head and which caused a buzzing sensa-
tion. The result of these experiments all point to the conclusion that the
actors of antiquity were well aware of the advantages gained by the use of
the mask.
AMPHITHEATRES
The amphitheatre consists of two theatres placed together, or we may
regard it as an orchestra entirely surrounded by tiers for the spectator^.
MONUMItNTAL AND PUBLIC EDIFICES
AMPHITHEATRES
adopted. This led to the characteristic ground- plan of the amphitheatre,
which, on account of its shape, could not always be built against a liill (ef,
Figs- 393. 4^9 ^ind 490).
Fig. 490.— -Section of the Amphitheatre at Treves (built against tlie slope of a hill
The auditorium was therefore supported on pillars and walls, and in
this way extensive corridors running around the building were formed
Fig. 491. — ^View of the Amphitheatre of Verona
below; these pillars frequently reached a considerable height (Figs.
487, 492, and 493). Cages for the wild animals w^ere fixed underneath
364 MONUMEN'rAL AND PUBLIC EDIFICES
the lowest seats, or in annexes. The lowest circle of seats was generally
separated from the arena by a wall which was insurmountable by the wild
Fig. 493. — Corridor and But-
tress underneath the Audi-
torium of the Amphitheatre
at Verona
Fig. 492. — Surrounding Wall of the Amphitheatre
at Verona
animals and which sometimes carried a railing in addition. In many
amphitheatres the arena was undermined by a number of cellars which
-Plan of the Cellars and the Machinery of the Amphitheatre at Tr6ves
ain room for the machinery. _ In D and F large round holes for holding posts. In D, remains «
asisting of beams and cross-pieces. In front of them a wooden lifting device. In the corridor C
chambers for draining the cellars
AMPHITHEATRES 365
enabled the whole or part of it to be placed under water for aquatic
displays (Colosseum at Rome). The cellars were made either by sinking
Fig. 495. — Cellar (den ?) underneath the Amphitheati'e at Treves
shafts into the soil (Metz) or by cutting them laboriously out of the solid
rock, as was the case at Trfeves, where some of the cellars are as deep as
15 ft. (Figs. 494 and 495).
Fig. 496. — Details of the Masonry sanrounding the Amphitheatre at Verona
The ceiling, on which the arena rested, was supported by strong wooden
posts. Special arrangements werb provided in the amphitheatre for
MONUMENTAL AND PUBLIC EDIFICES
366
draining oft' the water w'hicli had been used during the performances. At
Treves a canal 330 ft. long and 7 ft. deep leads into the Olewig brook. In
most cases the amphitheatres also had special rooms for the machinery
which lay underneath the arena and was used for working the traps
opening the water- containers and for other purposes no longer exactly
known (Fig. 494). The gigantic size of those amphitheatres is common
knowledge ; the Colosseum at Rome held some'’45, 000-50, 000 spectators.
BATHS
As regards dimensions and grandeur of conception the baths which are
likewise to be found in practically all the Roman settlements are hardly
second to the amphitheatres. At the time of greatest luxury these baths
or thermae formed a whole group of buildings containing a great number
of rooms whose exact uses can in many cases hardly be ascertained
nowadays (Figs. 497-511). But the essential parts, alike in these and
in the smaller baths, of earlier date or in provincial towns, are as follows :
the undressing-room or apodyierium, the cold bath or frigidanum, the
steam-bath or caldarium, sudatorium, and a tepid room, the tepidarium,
in which the bathers stayed on coming from the hot room. Other
essential parts are the arrangements for heating, which have been dis-
cussed in the section on ‘ Lighting and Heating ’. None of these rooms
showed technical peculiarities except in smaller practical details. For
example, the bathers could easily catch cold from any draught in the
baths. For this reason the door-posts of the thermae at Pompeii are
inclined in order that doors left open may close automatically by their own
weight and so obviate draughts and make it impossible for the heat to
escape from the caldarium. In the hot-room the seats were made of
BATHS
367
wood, as stone benches would have conducted away too nnieli heat.
No ])a.intings have been found anywhere in the thermae ; this]u-ov('s that
the Romans rightly distrusted the durability and covering pf)wer of tlic
paint in the damp heat.
Concerning the uniform distribution of heat in the hot-room and
the method of regulating it, Vitruvius makes the following statements
(V, 10):
I ' The Hweating-bath.s must adjoin the tepid room, and their height lo the bottom
I of the curved dome should be equal to their width. Let an apt'rture be left in the
I middle of the dome with a bronze disc hanging from it by chains. By raising and
I lowering it, the temperatjre of the sweating-bath can be regulated. The ('.liamber
I itself ought, as it seems, to be circular, so. that the force of the fire and heat may
I spread evenly from the centre all round the circumference.’
I'To. 498. — Plan of the large Thermae at Pompeii (Stabian Thermae)
A", Main entrance ; A, vestibule ; BB'B", colouiraiie running round the palaestra ; C, the court for physical exe
cise; D, apodyteriuin ; K, room; F, frigidarium; G, room; VI, apodyteriuni ; VII, tepidarimn ; VIII, caidariiui
IX, heating apparatus
On the whole the arrangement of these thermae is comparatively simple, like that of the ‘ Small Thermae ’. Compa
them with the great Roman thermae built by Agrippa, Diocletian, Caracalla and Titus (Figs. 497, 504, sofi-oii), whii
exhibit such grandeur of conception and magnificence of design
MONUMENTAL AND PUBLIC EDIFICES
li\j All!.! i Ii! I ’
it'll 1 j"Js ^1 '
370
MONUMENTAL AND PUBLIC EDIFICES
-Plan of the ‘ Small Thermae ’ at Pompeii
, 2, 3, entrances to men’s baths ; A, internal court ; d, lavatory ; c,
/, exedra .(resting-room with benches) ; C, cold bath (frigidariiun) ;
G, tepidariuni ; H, apodyterium ; J, frigidarium ; K, court ; L
cisterns
Fig. 501.
A-E, men’s baths ; F-J, women’s baths ; a, i
corridor ; B, undressing room (apodyterium) :
D, tepidariuni ; E; caldarium ; F, caldariurn
-Vertical section tlirough the Caldarium of the men's baths in the ' Small
Thermae ’ at Pompeii
172
374 MONUMENTAL AND PUBLIC EDIFICES
Fig. 508, — Ground-plan of the Thermae of Caracalla in Rome
The ground-plan reveals the comple.x yet well-balanced design of the main, budding. The thermae represent a little
city in themselves, covering an area of about 27 acres. The purpose of the individual rooms has not been established
with certainty. Nevertheless all the essential features characteristic of Roman thermae have been found, viz. : oppo-
site the entrances, situated on both sides at 23, there is a palaestra (47), (wrestling-school), a large caldarium (12), a
frigidariuin also of great size, besides numerous dressing-rooms and a large tepidarium (this last has been questioned).
The functions to be assigned to the other parts of this great construction have been discussed on various occasions,
but no definite conclusions have been arrived at which are worth mentioning here. The thermae had accommodation
for 1,600 bathers and were most luxuriously equipped. Even at the present day their ruins (Figs. 509, 510) make
a deep impression on the beholder and still allow us to recognize among other things the profusion of domed vaulting,
the numerous arches, and the lavish use of marble and other costly building materials. A great many works of art
have been found there. The whole was surrounded by a wall which also enclosed numerous other buUdingssuch as
a .stadium and a swimming-bath. The construction of the Thermae of Garacalla was begun in a.d, aia
BATHS
375
-Ruins of the Thermae of Caracal la
-Another view of the Thermae of Caracalla
Fig, 51 1. — Ground-plan of the Thermae of Agrippa (Reconstruction, cf. Fig. 507)
BASILICAS
Basilicas must also be classified as public buildings. Their name is
derived from ^aadevc;, -which means 'king’. In Greece the original
meaning was ‘ royal hall ’. In Rome the basilicas did not appear till
a later period, when the first building of this kind was erected by M.
Porcius Cato in 184 b.c. The basilicas were not always used for the same
purpose. Originally they may have been a simple sort of market-hall
or exchange, but later on they became places of assembly and judgment-
halls ■ A special section was partitioned off for the tribunal, or raised or
built on in the form of an apse. The Romans seem to havejDeen very fond
of vi.siting the basilicas or loitering about in their neighbourhood. Some
evidence of this propensity is given by figures used in a board game which
have been found scratched on the steps of Roman basilicas and probably date
from ancient Roman times; this is further supported by Vitruvius’ advice
that basilicas should be built in the warmest place of the forum. Rome,
Pompeii and many other cities possessed several basilicas, of which only
comparatively scanty ruins remain, besides, we are by no means sure that all
Fig. 513. — Cross-section through the Basilica of Pompeii
the buildings supposed nowadays to have been basilicas actually belonged
to that category. Concerning the construction of basilicas we are entirely
dependent on their ruins and the description by Vitruvius. Besides giving
378 MONUMENTAL AND PUBLIC EDIFICES
Ms opinion on the most favourable position for basilicas mentioned above,
tbflt they should be oblong in shape and of certain dimensions.
' In breadth they should
be not less than one third,
nor more than one half of
their length ' ( V, i , 4) . The
interior should have two
rows of columns one above
the other ; the lower, sup-
porting the side galleries,
should be larger than
the columns of the upper
row. The basilica should
be constructed in such a
way that people standing
in the galleries cannot be
seen from below, and that
people near the tribunal,
which is placed on one of the narrow sides, do not disturb those in
other parts of the building. All these and other requirements have been
complied with in the basilica of Pompeii, further details of which are to be
seen in a reconstruction by Lange, and in the ground-plan (Figs. 512-515).
Fig. 514. — Probable appearance of the Basilica of
Pompeii
METHODS OF BUILDING
ORIGINAL METHODS
I N the earliest times the various ways of building were intimately con-
nected with the stage of advancement of the human dwelling, and it
was not till considerable progress had been made in construction that
the methods practised in the case of large buildings became dissociated
from those used for houses. In all probability the first dwelling was a
round tent made of animal skins. Out of it arose the first fixed abode, the
hut, which was likewise circular. With a view to dividing its interior into
several rooms the base of the hut was gradually extended, assuming an
oval form, and from this the rectangular form finally evolved. This course
of development determined the character of the buildings and the methods
of construction. The work was at first carried out in such a way and with
such materials as were required for a round building. Twigs and straw,
rushes, or field-stones simply piled up could easily be adapted to the circular
form. Similarly clay could be used alone or in combination with the
above materials for circular or oval structures. When civilization had
progressed as far as the stage of the rectangular hut, new kinds of edifices
appeared, namely the log-hut and the house with timber-framing, that is,
with nogging or baywork, which gradually led to structures of stone and
similar material.
No trustworthy record has reached us about the most primitive
dwellings of prehistoric times, that is, of the huts built of reed, straw or
rushes. We can only infer, from the similarly built dwellings of the
primitive tribes of our own times, that the blades of the long-stalked
plants above mentioned were woven together, stiffened by means of
palings and coated with clay in order to make the walls impenetrable to
wind and rain.
Willow wands, twigs and such like were also used instead of long
blades. To give the clay greater consistency it was mixed with chopped
straw, awns of cereals, or pine needles ; if no clay was to be had moss
was packed into the hurdle-work. Foundations were unknown, and the
supporting stakes were simply rammed into the ground.
TIMBER-WORK
As the form of human dwellings changed, endeavours were made to
render them firmer and more lasting. This aim was achieved by reducing
the hurdle-work and increasing the supports ; the stakes became more
and more numerous and the relative area of rushwork became progres-
379
METHODS OF BUILDING
380
sively smaller. Thus the log hut gradually evolved ; its mode of con-
struction allowed an entrance that could be made more solid by the
introduction of a proper door-frame and a threshold. As the stakes
standing directly in the ground rotted in the course of time and so entailed
a general loosening of the structure, the builders began to avoid fixing
them in this way or erecting the houses directly on the ground, which was
often damp. A solid layer of dry stones, the foundation, was interposed
between the ground and the building. In this way the log-dwelling arose,
which possessed practically all the essential components of the later house ;
it had windows and even woodwork for carrying the roof, which was made
of straw, reed, turf or small thin laths (shingles). At first the rafters
were round and hollowed out only at the joints. Later on they were cut
square, so that the structure acquired rigidity, and irregularities of the
joints were averted. The separate parts of the building were connected
simply by their own weight, or by notches in the beams or by binding.
The roof may have been weighted with stones. Nails did not appear till
later, perhaps only when baywork came into existence. The first nails
were made of wood.
If we consider that even at the present day, in our age of highly
developed technical science, there are still huge log-houses with shingled
roofs weighted by stones in Upper Bavaria, the Tyrol and in Switzerland,
there can be no doubt that this form of dwelling must have been used
by many ancient peoples throughout their history. Traces of them have
mostly disappeared, the wood having rotted in the course of time, but
post-holes in the ground filled with rotten wood or coloured brown by it, as
well as other remains, still bear witness to the actual existence of
primitive or more elaborate wooden buildings in bygone ages.
It is also possible to form a conception of ancient timber- work from
other sporadic accounts. It appears that the Jews above all other peoples
erected wooden buildings in large numbers and succeeded in making
them of great architectural beauty. In the Bible the carpenter is called
the man ‘ who builds the house ' and a great many Biblical similes relate
to carpentry. Even apart from Noah's Ark, which was completely made
of deal, it is to be assumed that Solomon's Temple, according to the
descriptions given in the Bible (First Book of Kings vi.-vii., Second Book
of Chronicles ii.-iv., Jeremiah xv., and so forth), was built of wood of the
most precious kinds. Only the foundations were of stone, as is seen from
the First Book of Kings v. 17 : ‘ And the king commanded, and they
brought great stones, costly stones, and hewed stones, to lay the foundation
of the house.' Similarly the foundation of the inner court seems, to have
been of the same material : ‘ And he built the inner court with three rows
of hewed stone and a row of cedar beams ' (i Kings vi. 36). On the inside
the walls were specially lined with boards, that is, they were wainscoted
(i Kings vi. 9, 15). The roof was made of I'afters ; ' and covered the
house with beams and boards of cedar . . . and he built the walls of
the house within with boards of cedar, both the floor of the house, and
the walls of the ceiling : and he covered them on the inside with wood,
and covered the. floor of the house with planks of fir '. Surveying these
FRAME BUILDINGS 381
facts we can hardly be wrong in assuming from the Biblical descriptions
that Solomon’s temple was a supreme example of ancient Jewish archi-
tecture in wood, for the construction of which an immense quantity of
timber was used— in all probability a huge log-house made of hewn
timbers, wainscoted on the inside and richly decorated with carving. Even
the supporting columns, which stood on a foundation of stone, seem to
have consisted of wood. The Tabernacle of the Lord, which we may
regard as a model of the Jewish dwelling, was also a wooden structure
reminiscent of the tents used in nomadic times. The walls of the
Tabernacle were 50 by 17 ft. and 17 by 17 ft. They consisted of vertical
boards each of which stood on two silver feet and was joined to its neigh-
bours by mortises. Each board being 2 ft. 6 in, wide, twenty boards were
needed for a side- wall and six for the back wall of the sanctum. In the
corners there were pairs of posts, clamped together at the top and bottom,
to which these boards were attached, and five horizontal rafters were dove-
tailed into these corner-posts. These rails were passed through golden
rings which were screwed into the boards. The material used was gilt
wood from the locust-tree. For the rest, it appears that the shortage of
wood which occurred very early in Palestine put an end to the ancient
Jewish custom of constructing wooden buildings, for even Solomon, who
for the last time followed the ancient tradition in its most elaborate form,
had to import the wood for his Temple from great distances. His own
palace, however, he ordered to be built ‘of stone (First Book of Kings vii.),
FRAME BUILDINGS
Whether it was also the shortage of wood or simply technical considera-
tions which led man to abandon the log-house in favour of the house with
timber framing, or whether both reasons were involved, may be left an
open question. At any rate the ancients must have observed that the
stability of a building did not depend so much on the number of beams
'used as on the way in which they were joined, and the door-frame must
have taught them that a solid timber frame capable of standing severe
strains is formed by the combination of a horizontal threshold, upright
posts and a lintel placed on top of them. Whether a frame of this kind
is afterwards filled with loam, hurdle-work, woodwork, brick or stone is
irrelevant. Thus it was due to a simple technical observation or perhaps
to a shortage of wood and the subsequent endeavour to economize in this
material that the frame-building came into being ; its essential character-
istics were the same in antiquity as to-day. The threshold, the lowest
course of rafters, serves also as the foundation of the whole building.
Other wooden rafters, the stays or props, rise up vertically from it ; they
are joined together by horizontal beams, the ' rails ’, and by oblique struts,
the ' dragon-beams ’. In this way isolated panes or bays of rectangular
.shape are formed, which are filled in with some weaker material. Another
important new feature of the frame-building is the complete separation of
the roof from the walls, each becoming an independent part of the
structure,
METHODS OF BUILDING
If we leave aside monuments, public buildings, and the residences of
the rich, and if we leave out of account districts in which the shortage of
wood or an abundance of suitable stone caused people to erect buildings
only of stone, we come to the conclusion that the timber-frame house is the
most widespread kind of building in antiquity. At the time of the Empire
it was still extremely popular in Rome, according to Friedlander, and
although stone buildings are fairly common in , the south it is unlikely
that they predominated over frame houses. In the north, however, the
frame construction was naturally adopted, as all the necessary material,
wood and loam, were at hand in superabundance. Roman forts were
mostly built in this way, sometimes on a stone foundation. This is
almost certainly true of the
^ houses in cities like Treves and
architectural buildings like temples
were originally constructed with
framework, when the building in
wood alone had been superseded.
@1 II 1 "I'he Heraion at Olympia, the
1 1 most ancient Greek temple, men-
tioned above, was made partly _ of
consisted' of stone. For buildings
H^pP which stood in the interior of
Fig. 5i0._Timber-work in the Temple of fortifications and were not
Thermos in Aetolia, faced with clay slabs directly exposed to enemy attacks,
baywork or brickwork was pre-
ferred. But attempts were made at a very early period to give the bay-
work the appearance of stone by coating it with loam or limestone, and
ornamenting it elaborately on the outside. Decorating frame-buildings
was very popular in Greece, , as is seen from the ancient temple of
Thermos in Aetolia, which is constructed of timber-work and clay tiles,
and is decorated with painted clay slabs which add to its stability.
‘ Above the epistylium, the beam that lies over the columns, 'says Lamer,
‘ clay-slabs W’-ere placed as metopes, separated by vertically grooved
triglyphs. Above them lies the gutter. The t5q)ical ancient painting on
the left of Fig. 516 represents Perseus with winged shoes, and the metope
on the right represents goddesses on their thrones.' It was stated above
(p. 351), that the column originated in timber, the first being the Doric
column. The Heraion at Olympia is not the only evidence in support of
this. To judge from the form of the capital even the Egyptian column
seems to have evolved gradually from the carved wooden beam.
ROOFINGS 383
ROOFINGS
Lik(^ tlie columns, so the roofs in their later form seem to have been a
result of the practice of building in wood. Originally the roof was conical
like the tent covering from which it had developed. Its various parts
rested on a scaffolding of poles or rafters which were tied together at a
point vertically over the centre of the base. The scaffolding itself lay
on the circular wall of the dwelling. When the ground-plan of the hut
became rectangular, the roof also changed its circular form into that of a
rectangle, the tent-form being preserved while the cone became a sort of
pyramid with a ridge-piece to which all the laths of the scaffold converged.
But the timber-frame building later allowed the construction of gabled
roofs. As the walls were entirely independent there was no difficulty
in keeping the front and back walls low, while raising the side-walls right
up to the edge of the gable. The triangular gables became the carriers of
Fig. 517. — Greek Gabled Roof
From a votive relief dedicated to Dionysos (Museo Nazionale at Naples)
the roof and formed an integral part of the frame-construction. Yet, in
spite of its simplicity, the gabled roof did not occur as frequently in
antiquity as might be expected. Both in Greece and in Rome roofs were
mostly flat or pyramidal, like tents, the reason being that the gabled roof
was with few exceptions a privilege reserved for the residences of the gods.
Assyrian temples, as well as King Solomon’s temple were crowned with
gabled roofs ; they were also an ornamental feature of Greek and Roman
temples. The building regulations were so strict that even during the last
years of the Roman republic a special senatorial decree was necessary to
grant Julius Caesar the honour of having a gabled roof. The structure
of the Greek gabled roofs, of which the timber frame has in no case with-
stood complete decay, is clearly delineated on a votive relief dedicated to
Dionysos in a group called ‘ Dionysos visiting Ikarios’, wffiich is kept at
the Museo Nazionale at Naples. The gables are bordered by ledges. On
the long sides the lower ends of the square rafters are seen projecting
from the wall. These rafters carry woodwork on which the tiles rest
(Fig. 517).
Two kinds of tiles are to be distinguished : the flat tiles which were
simple plates with both sides turned upwards, and the capping tiles which
384 METHODS OF BUILDING
were either semi-cylindrical or of a gable shape. When the flat tiles were
laid close to each other on the wooden frame of the roof with their crockets
hooked on to the transverse laths and with the joints formed by their
upturned edges covered by capping tiles, a roofing was formed which was
W!SAKorr^‘Vfel{K!;.ElBi;KO
Fig. 518. — ^Eaves, Mouldings and Ridge of the Treasury at Gela
STONE BUILDINGS
385
absolutely rain-proof. The water flowed over the capping tiles into the
grooves formed by the flat tiles. Instead of fastening the tiles by means
of crockets the transverse laths of the roof were sometimes covered with
boards, and the boards were coated with a layer of loam on which the
tiles were laid (Figs. 419 and 440). The oldest known frame building
of the Greeks, the Heraion at Olympia, was covered with a tiled roof,
I'he timber- work of the roof did not always project from the walls. Re-
mains of the eaves-mouldings on the treasury at Gelashow that in certain
cases the rafters of the- roof terminated in specially elaborated mould-
ings ornamented with terra cotta or otherwise (Fig. 518). The ridge of
the roof was supported by a massive transverse beam. In order to pro-
tect this beam and the laths ending upon it, the ridge was covered all along
with a series of capping-like tiles which were often artistically worked.
The Roman gabled roof was very much like the Greek, and Vitruvius
has therefore nothing new to tell us in his lengthy description (IV, 2)
apart from a few details about the props of the timber-work.
STONE BUILDINGS
Whereas the wooden building steadily evolved from a lattice- work of
rushes to a structure with a timber frame, no similar development can be
traced in stone buildings. Formerly it was held that the Cyclopean walls
discussed below were older than the walls which consist of horizontal
courses, but no convincing evidence of this has been adduced. Nor are the
arguments sound which are based on the differences in the joints of the
masonry, in the measurements of the blocks, and the role played by the
horizontal line. When the stone within easy reach split off in parallel
strata the masonry constructed with it naturally would not be Cyclopean,
but would consist of horizontal layers ; in the same way, walls with
polygonal blocks were built simultaneously with walls of square blocks.
The walls of the ruined citadel of Mycenae, for example, are of Cyclopean
masonry, whereas parts of the wall in the neighbourhood of the Lion-gate
are of another construction and the corners of the encircling wail are again
different. At any rate the Cyclopean masonry ranks among the oldest
kind of walls. It was made by placing crude unhewn blocks beside and
on top of each other without using cement. The intervening spaces
were filled up with smaller stones. Walls of this kind, often constructed
of enormous blocks, aroused the astonishment even of the ancients at a
time when they were no longer made. This was the case with the walls of
Tiryns, which resemble towering masses of rock ; they are mentioned by
Homer and Hesiod. Pausanias (second century a.d.), filled with the
greatest wonder at the sight of therd, writes ; ' The wall, all that is left of
the ruins of the city, is a work of the Cyclopes and built of unhewn stones,
each of which is so large that a yoke of mules would be incapable of
moving even the smallest of them in the least. In bygone times small
stones had been placed in the gaps between, them in order to connect them
as far as pos.sible ’ ( 1 1 , 25 , 8) . Concerning the way in which such walls were
raised, we are entirely left to conjectures. It is probable that the inclined
METHODS OF BUILDING
386
plane played a part in the work of construction. With the aid of such an
arrangement, a kind of ramp, or possibly also slides manipulated by an
enormous number of workmen, these rocks may have been piled up
on the walls. Various investigators, who have attempted to solve the
problem of these walls, have suggested the use of the strangest devices,
involving levers and lifting contrivances, and have given directions for
building, but there is no evidence to support any of them and they all
seem highly impossible. Judging from the facts actually known to us
concerning ancient craftsmanship, we are bound to arrive at the same
conclusion as was stated in the chapter on ' Technical Mechanics and
Machines’, namely that these gigantic tasks were accomplished with the
simplest of mechanical means, but with the expenditure of an immense
amount of human labour and time.
Polygonal Masonry is characterized by the form of the stones used.
The sides of crude stones were superficially hewn in such a way that the
original shape was more or less preserved, the result being irregular
polygons of unequal sides. These blocks were then placed beside each
other in such a way that their joins fitted as close as possible. Practically
no mortar was used, the structure holding together by the weight of the
stones. Polygonal masonry has been found in numerous places in the ruins
of Corinth, Mycenae and Ostia, in Epirus, Oiniadai in Akarnania and others.
Some of these walls seem to have been executed with such care and
industry that no trace of horizontal courses is observable. In others
again, such as the huge walls at Norba, polygonal blocks were used, but
they were all arranged in horizontal layers, or in such a way that the
polygonal network was interrupted by horizontal lines, separating the layers.
A third kind of masonry is produced by using ashlar (square-hewn
stones) ; which have the advantage of giving absolute stability irrespective
of the dimensions of the stones used. The stability is due to the carrying
surface being very large and fully utilized. Although a great many in-
stances of ancient ashlar masonry are only preserved in ruins, the reason for
this is not due to a lack of resisting power. Structures of this kind would
have endured unaltered till our day in all the regions which have not
suffered from earthquakes, if their stones had not been removed and
used for new buildings. In many districts, above all in Rome, ancient
ashlar structures served as quarries from which the building material was
extracted during the Middle Ages. Like Cyclopean masonry, walls com-
posed of ashlar were made without cement — ^they consisted simply of piled-
up blocks of stone, sometimes fastened with cramp-irons. For this purpose
incisions were made in the contiguous surfaces of the blocks, into which
iron bars were inserted ; the gaps left were then filled up with molten
lead. In addition to these horizontal cramps vertical iron dowels were
used by the Greeks for consolidating walls and preventing a lateral shear-
ing of the courses. The dowel was fixed with lead into a hole which had
been cut into the centre of the upper surface of the lower stones;
it projected vertically from the surface and fitted loosely into the
corresponding hole in the centre of the lower surface of the next stone
above. The upper hole was not sealed with lead. Two neighbouring
STONE BUILDINGS
3S7
stones were clasped horizontally by means of cramp-irons as follows : a
deep horizontal groove was chiselled into the communicating upper
surf aces and a double T-shaped cramp iron laid into it. A rim of clay was
then placed round the edge of the groove and in this way a kind of trough
was formed, which was filled wnth liquid lead so as to cover completely the
iron cramp. The clay rim was then removed and the block of lead pro-
jecting from the stones reduced in such a way that it filled into a corres-
ponding groove in the lower surface of the stones above. Numerous
ancient structures still extant prove that walls consolidated in this way
have been able to survive thousands of years. The successive tambours
of large columns were fastened in a similar way, i.e. with iron and lead.
In many Attic buildings these are grappled with a wooden dowel, which is
fixed into cedar plugs of which one
belongs to an upper and one to a lower
surface. Frequently the dowel is so
weak that its purpose can only have
been to connect two tambours of a
column so as to make them fit together
accurately. In this case the tambours
could be made to rotate around their
dowel. Otherwise the parts were
joined by means of peculiar iron plugs
fixed with lead into holes in the tam-
bours of the columns. The plug
became narrower towards the middle,
so as to project wedge-like on both
sides from the lead stopper. First the
plug was fixed into the upper tambour,
which was then placed on the tam-
bour below. The latter had been
provided with a hole, for receiving the
thole projecting from the periphery of
the column to the hole. The groove
widened as it approached the hole.
A clay funnel was then introduced into
the groove between the two tambours, and lead was poured through it
into the hole around the plug.
A well-preserved example of this kind of treenailing is seen in the
' Juppiter-column ' in the Rdmisch-Germanisches Museum at Mayence.
Ashlar masonry, however, as well as brickwork, was sometimes
cemented, the material being mortar (see section ‘ Building Materials ').
Ashlaring was accomplished either by using blocks of equal size with
regularly alternating joints — ^this kind of masonry was called isodomum :
examples are seen on the left of Fig. 520 and in the two bottom rows of
Fig. 539 — or the blocks differed in size, making courses of unequal height
{pseudo-isodonmm, Figs, 519, 521, 523, 527, also the substructure of
Fig. 541).
The thicker walls were frequently made of some cheaper
Fig. 519. — Pseudo-isodomum. Section
of the masonry in the cellar of one of
the buildings in Saalburg
388 MMiODS OF BUILDING
material such as brick, which was then faced with ashlar.
brickwork and the facing were combined to form a whole by prismatic
5-^3- — 'Cast' Masonry in the Forum Civile at Pompeii
The front -waW shovfs opus ‘pseutio'isociomnm a.nA reticmlatum
bodies entered the wall perpendicularly to the facing (Fig. 520). Ashlar
Fig. 520, -Poman Wall, consisting of brickwork inside (seen on the right) and ashlar
facing {isodomum, on the right) shortened by means of bond-stones
Casale Rotondo on the Appian Way
G. 521. — Corner of a House made of Fig. 522 . — Opus incertum or antiquum
hewn stone (Saalburg)
bond-stones whose heads lay in the outer surface of the wall, whereas the
fiBMi'." "" ^.p^, ii,-iri, ^ -p.^ f-y~sPi I ^
i BgrTTiiir^
STONE BUILDINGS
was further used for constructing the corners of
522) or for making in-
sertions in isolated parts
is met with especially in
Roman buildings, of
which it is characteristic.
It is very durable,
though it is apt to crack ii^^.
(Vitruvius). The method ^24-
of production was very
‘iiculatimt
simple. A box was made
of boards to exactly the
same dimensions as the
wall to be erected. Mor-
tar and broken stones of
all sizes were then bat-
tered into it. As soon as
the whole had become
hard the boards were re-
moved and the new wall
was embellished with plas-
ter. Traces of the boards
are still recognizable in
places where the plaster
has fallen away from the
opus inceftum.
Apart from the
Fig. 525. — Opus reticulatum
The guest-rooms in Hadrian’s Villa at Tivoli
material used this method !
is very much like the
modern way of making
concrete. In order to
render the opus incertum
more durable, permanent
outer walls of ashlar, brick
or marble were made
instead of the boards ; they
served as lining walls, into
the gaps between which
the mixture of stones and
mortar (Fig. 523) was
then cast. Finally these lining walls were grappled with braces which
Fig. 526. — Opus spicatum
Fpom a Roman tiled floor in the Deutsches Museum at Munich
Fig. 528. — ^Masonry consisting of
Stone with binding courses of Brick
Oil the right at tlie back the masonry has
been replaced by darker courses of bride
BRICKWORK
390 METHODS OF BUILDING
thus connected all three constituent parts of the wall, namely, the two
walls and the packing.
ypus incertum had not a very handsome appearance unless it
was hidden behind the lining
walls, a new kind of cheap
masonry, the opus reticulatum
or ‘ network ' (Figs. 524 and
525) was introduced, where-
ever ashlaring would have
been too expensive. Small
cubical stones were joined in
such a way that they did not
rest on one of their sides but
were supported on an edge at
the lowest parts. Compara-
ment) however, were thus created
with a distinct tendency to
give way under the oblique pressure from above. For this reason the opus
reticulatum with all its handsome and attractive design was not very
lasting. Another kind of Roman masonry was the opus spicatum, a variety
of the reticulatum. In this the individual courses of stones were placed
upon each other like the grains in an ear of corn (Figs. 526 and 527).
In the ancient art of building brickwork played a very important part
and is found among practically all the peoples of antiquity, either in the
form of pure brick buildings or associated
with other methods of building. The
Romans above all achieved great results
in this field of work. They succeeded in
constructing with nothing but brick huge
vaults which seem likely to last for
ever. Even at the present day the crafts-
manship of the Roman builders in this
field is attested by the cupola of the Pan-
theon, the colossal vaultings of the basil-
ica of Constantine in Rome, the thermae
of Diocletian and many other struc-
tures. Strong spandrel-bracketings of
beams and planks were used, over which
the bricks were built in regular layers.
The greatness of the achievement, how-
ever, does not consist in the use of these cradlings, but in the correct
calculation of the vaulting and the uniform distribution of the pressure
acting on the vaults and the walls carrying them.
THE CONSTRUCTION OF VAULTS
THE CONSTRUCTION OF VAULTS
The art of constructing vaults was known to the Assyrians and
Babylonians as early as
4000 B.c. This is shown
by the excavations which
were promoted by the
University of Chicago. But
despite the fact that the
knowledge of the art
spread to other peoples, it
seems to have been lost in
the course of time. The
early Greeks did not know
it ; they built only hori-
zontal ceilings. If wide
openings had to be roofed
over they were covered
with horizontal beams of
wood or stone, on top of
which was placed the
ceiling or roof proper.
This primitive method
naturally restricted the
size of the rooms that
could be built. The de-
sire to build large halls led
to the use of an increasing
number of uprights for
supporting the roof-beams ; as a result, however, the cover-space was
again reduced. The Hall of the Mysteries at Eleusis, for example,
contains seven rows of six columns each ; in the
municipal hall at Megalopolis the columns were
arranged radially. When the Greeks first started
building cupolas they constructed pseudo-vaults :
a typical example is the so-called treasury of
Atreus at Mycenae, which was apparently the ante-
chamber of a king's tomb (Fig. 539). A cupola-
shaped space 50 ft. high and 50 ft. in diameter
was created in the following way : 33 hori-
zontal layers of stone were piled up in concentric
circles upon the impost of the cupola and made
to corbel out till they met in the centre of the
topmost course. Similar pseudo-vaults have also
been discovered in the East, for instance in Chal-
daean tombs such as the sepulchral vault at Mugheir,
in which the walls are slightly inclined outwards, and carry at the top the
pseudo-vault , which is CO veredin its narrowest part s by brick-plat es (Fig. 530) .
529. — Pseudo-vault at Mycenae, called the
Treasure-house of Atreus
Fig. 530. — Chaldean
Pseudo - vault in the
Sepulchre at Mugheir
392 METHODS OF BUILDING
In Greece the real art of constructing vaults is first exemplified by the
erection of the arches over the Acarnanian town-gates. An early archway
Fig. 532. — ^Vaulted Ceiling, consisting
of several layers, in the imperial
palace at Treves
Fig. 531. — ^Vault made of wedge-
shaped Stones
Supposed to toe a heating gallery. From the
small Roman theatre at Verona
of this kind is the gate of the Holy
Road at Palaeros. It is a joint-cut vault
made of stones which are wedge-shaped.
They are not all entirely alike, but
structure which is of sufficient stability to carry the
weight of the partly pre-
■ served ceiling even to-day.
The difficulty seems to
have been to connect the
cuneiform stones with the
neighbouring stones of the
wall. But it was over-
come by a very irregular
joint-cut and by inserting
polygonal stones. Even
some of the wedge-shaped
stones are polygonal at
the top. The arched gate
at Palaeros is likely to
have been built in the
fifth century B.c.
Among the buildings
of the ancient Romans
there are arches and vaults
of every description. Be-
sides those made of wedge-
shaped stones (Fig. 531)
there are frequently to be
found vaulted ceilings con-
sisting of several parallel
arches lying one above
another, as is seen from vertical sections (Fig. 532). Often the stones
Fig. 533. — Barrel-vault made of irregular Stones
Corridor in the cellars of the Thermae at Trdves. The joints of the
vault and the lateral walls are worthy of particular note
I p-'
CONSTRUCTION OF VAULTS
used, and the layers made with them, are very irregular, particularly
where they join the lateral walls (Fig. 533). A very remarkable feature
of Roman buildings commonly met with is the superposition of arches
one. above another such as in amphitheatres (Fig. 487, 492), aqueducts,
in the imperial palace at Treves (Fig. 534), and many other places.
They disclose too the extensive knowledge of the Romans concerning
the bearing-power and the distribution of stresses in masonry.
By a gradual widening of the arch the simplest form of true vaults
originated, namely, the cylindrical or barrel-vault, which is repeatedly met
with in Greek masonry and still more in Roman triumphal arches. The
heavy weight of barrel-vaults constructed of ashlar does not allow of great
width. In order to create wide spans the arch-piers had to be very strong
and massive, which not only made them look clumsy and out of proportion
but occasioned great
expense. A way out
of the difficulty was
furnished by the
brickwork structure ;
this made the vault-
ing lighter and conse-
quently allowed the
supporting walls also
to be made lighter.
Brickwork also led to
a greater freedom of
design in vaultings in
general ; cross-arched
vaults and domed
vaults came about,
whose further de-
velopment, however,
demands attention
more from an archi-
tectural than from a
be discussed here.
It has been said before that vaults were usually constructed with the
aid of a special scaffold, the spandrel bracketing or cradling. But whereas
nowadays such cradlings are usually placed on the ground or on the
foundation, the ancients, at any rate the Romans, apparently placed them
on the masonry of the piers or other walls adjacent to the future vaults.
Numerous offsets or projections found on the inside and the outside of
the piers served as carriers and abutments for the cradlings used during
the construction of the vaults. Examples of such ohsets are met with in
the ruins of the ancient Roman bridge at Narni in Umbria, in the aque-
duct called ‘ Pont du Card ’ near Nimes, and in many other buildings. If
they are missing nowadays, the reason probably is that they were knocked
off or chiselled away at a later period, Sometimes these offsets are seen
only for a short distance inside the vault, the reason being that those
Fig. 534.— Superposed Roman. Arches (imperial palace at
Treves)
technical point of view; they will therefore not
METHODS OF BUILDING
394 •
furtlier inside had been chiselled off, or the cradlings had been placed
only partly on such offsets, and partly on the ground. But there is
no doubt that in some cases the cradlings rested entirely on the
ground, although they were more often supported on offsets.
BUILDING IMPLEMENTS
Concerning details of instruments used in building, particularly wind-
lasses, blocks and pulleys and other apparatus of this kind, the reader
Fig. 535. — Chorobates (reconstructed by Neuburger)
is referred to the section on ‘ Technical Mechanics and Machines In
order to make the list complete a number of special contrivances and
implements will be discussed here which were utilized in the construc-
tional work. Above all there is the group of levelling instruments which
Fig. 536. — Tools of Roman Masons (from tombstones and doorplates)
a, Plunimet (at the top) ; plunibline (on the left); compass (on the right at the top) ; set-square (on the right,
below) ; I'uler (at the bottom), h. Plumbline, pliuninet, compass and ruler, c, Jointing-rule (on the right above) ;
level, set-square, compass, chisel, hammer and calipers, (Deutsches Museum, Munich)
served to determine the horizontal direction and were used in erecting
houses as well as in laying out roads or constructing aqueducts. On
the whole they were used in the same way as nowadays. The simplest
of all ancient levelling instruments was the groma, which was the chief
BUILDING IMPLEMENTS
305
implement of the Roman surveyors. Remains of an ancient Ihnnan
groma have been found at Pfunz, near Eichstiidt. It is identical with
the cross described by Heron of Alexandria, which consisted of two arms
placed at right angles in a horizontal plane. From the ends of the arms
were suspended plummets. Heron draws attention to the errors caused
by the arms of the instrument being placed otherwise than horizontally
or by the winds. An advance on the groma is to be recognized in the choro-
bates, which is described
by Vitruvius in the follow-
ing words (VIII, 5) :
‘ The chorobates is a straight
edge about twenty feet long. At
the extremity it has legs made
exactly alike and jointed on
perpendiculars to the extrem-
ities of the straight-edge, and
also cross-pieces, fastened by
tenons, connecting the straight-
edge and the legs. These
cross-pieces have vertical lines
drawn upon them, and there
are plumblines hanging from
the straight-edge over each of
the lines. When the straight-
edge is in position, and the
plumbiines strike both the
lin.es alike and at the same
tim^ they show that the in-
stru' aent stands level. But if
the wind interposes, and con-
stant motion prevents any
definite indication by the lines,
then have a groove on the
upper side, five feet long, one
digit wide, and a digit and a
half deep, and pour water into
it. If the water comes up uni-
formly to the rims of the groove
it will be known that the instru-
ment is level. When the level
is thus found by means of the chorobates, the amount of fall will also be known.
Fia- 537' — Mason smoothing the Plastering on a
Wall (mural painting at Pompeii)
The picture shows the st^affohiinKi the tool ami the way in which it
was used, two vessnls and possibly the working clothes worn by masons
(The last remark of Vitruvius is to be understood as a reference to
the levelling of an aqueduct which he is describing.) The chorobates
was thus nothing but a stool whose legs were connected with the seat
by inclined struts (Fig. 535). The latter were provided with marks
showing whether the plummets suspended from the edge of the board
were vertical, in which case the surface of the levelling implement lay
horizontal. Any deviations from the horizontal line could easily be
ascertained. But the chorobates also allowed itself to be used as a water-
level. From further remarks by Vitruvius, however, it is clear that the
ordinary water-level, that is, a glass tube which is filled with water and
contains an air-bubble, was also Imown and used as a levelling instrument.
i'AK M:\| HI I )ri
I > n-\V iHMix >
1 ua
i N \i KIV'l It.rjl'l-.
396 METHODS OF BUILDING
There was yet another implement for sighting known to tiie ancients,
namely the diopter, mentioned by Vitruvius and described by Heron of
Alexandria. H. Schoene, with the help of an engineer, J. Neumann, has
recently reconstructed it. Heron's diopter was a water-level, a well-known
contrivance based on the principle of transmission of pressure in fluids
by communicating vessels.
It was however constructed
in the form of a theodolite
which allows a large or a
small movement about a
horizontal and a vertical
axis. The diopter or
dioptric rule was 6 ft. 2 in,
long and was provided at
both ends with an objective,
an eye-piece and two
pointers. For levelling
purposes the dioptric rule
was connected with a
water-level. By means of
this instrument and a
system of rectangular co-
ordinates, Heron mathe-
matically solved the prob--,
lem of 'piercing' a
mountain with a stri ight
tunnel when the two' en- -
trances have been given.'
I Confident of success, Heron
also promised that the
workers advancing from
both ends would meet in
the middle of the moun-
tain. But the example of
the aqueduct at Samos
Fig. 538.— The Tools of a Mason (from a Roman (Fig. 572) shows that the
chest) instruments were not
Trowel, plan, b.level,cam^^ chisel Provindal sufficiently aCCUratC tO
allow the promise to be
fulfilled ; but it has not been proved that Eupalinos, the builder of
the aqueduct, actually used the contrivance described by Heron.
Other surveying instruments used by the ancient builders were the
plummet and the set- square, both of. which very much resemble the modern
tools that serve the same purpose. The same is true of the mason's
tools. The tombstones and doorplates {insignia) of ancient masons
show the rake, the trowel, the brush, the plummet, the calipers and many
other implements, all of which are very much like those used by modern
bricklayers (Figs. 536, 537 and 538).
BUILDING MATERIALS
WOOD
O F the building materials of the ancients wood was the most
important in the earliest times — as is clear from the statements
of the last section. Almost all the sorts of wood were used
that are still employed nowadays. Convenience often determined the
choice. For example, for producing frames, particularly in Roman
times, fir-wood was apparently used only because it happened to be
more easily accessible than oak, which had to be fetched from a greater
distance. Further, nobler sorts of wood were used for superior buildings
as well as for panelling. Apart from this there is nothing further of
importance to be said about wood as a building material. Concerning
the manner of felling and working the wood, details are given in an earlier
section. The Romans were among the first to use for their building wood
that was impregnated so as to be fireproof. Aulus Gellius (about 150
A.D.) narrates in his Attic Nights, XV, ^ that when he was one day accom-
panying the orator Antonius Julianus home together with other members
of hi.s audience they passed a burning house. This led Julianus to refer
in the course of conversation to the passage in the chronicles of Claudius
Quadrigarius, in which Claudius relates that in the year ’86 B.c. Athens
was hard-pressed by Sulla in the struggle with Mithridates. Archelaus,
the commander of Mithridates, in order to protect the Piraeus had a
wooden tower built which, in spite of all attempts of the Romans to
light it, would not burn. Archelaus had made it fireproof by saturating
. all the wood with alum {ita Archelaus omnem mater iam obleverat ahmine).
The ancients also knew how to provide against dry-rot, which, as
we now know, results from an infection of the wood. They never seem
to have been clear about its being connected with the wooden parts of
the structure. Measures for countering it are contained in Chapter 14
of Leviticus. Since they are to be regarded as expedient, however, even
from, the view of our present-day knowledge, and since they can refer
only to dry-rot, we shall quote the passage in question here. If in the
land of Canaan a house bore the sign of ‘leprosy ’, the priest had first
to view the house.
‘ And he shall look on the plague, and, behold, if the plagize be in the walls of
tlic house with hollow strakes, greenish or. reddish, and the appearance thereof be
lower than the wall ; then the priest shall go out of the hou.se to the door of the
house, and shut up the house seven days : and the priest .shall come again the
seventh day, and shall look : and, behold, if the plague be spread in the walls of
the house ; then the priest shall comrnand that they take out the stones in which
1 The .story proves nothing, for Roman use of this device, indeed the remarks
of Julianus {ibid.) imply that it was not generally known. — Trans.
397
BUILDING MATERIALS
lli(‘ ]il,!jj;uc ih and cast them into ah unclean place without the city ; and he shall
cause the house to bt‘ seraptjd within round about, and they shall pour out the mortar
that the}’ scrajx* of! without the city into an unclean place.'
STONES
Slones formed the most im])ortant building material of antiquity--
they \ver(> first probably collected singly wherever found ; later, they
were probtd)ly obtained from stone quarries in the manner described
in tlie section t)n mining. The rule that material was in general collected
Idea 53'). GijJiantic Stone which has been transported for building purpose.s
{iTtiiii Ihr basi: of the Tcmplo of Juppitrr at Baalbfik)
from whatever place in the vicinity it happened to occur, whereas definite
sorts for particular purposes were fetched from greater distances, applies
also to buildings of stone. For example, Tiryns was built from the
limestone that occurs in its neighbourhood. In Rome there are stones
from all parts of the Italifin peninsula, but the majority are from quarries
situated near by. In other places again sandstone is used. Every-
where the tendency to derive the stone from the nearest source is mani-
fest. Ii^ven in ancient times the stones were burst apart and separated
into smaller and larger ones by making lines of holes in them and placing
wooden wedges into the holes ; these wedges were made to swell by
having water poured on them. I)6rj)feld found such holes still in exist-
ence in the. rocks at Tiryns. This primitive technique sufficed to break
oi'f stone blocks 2 to 3 yards long, i to 2 yds. in thickness and i yd.
wide, wliich were used for building the town walls. The weight of
some of these massive bloc'ks amounts to nearly 20 tons. But they
are by no means the largest produced by ancient craftsmen. The
base of tlic temple of Juppiter at Baalbek contaijis stones of truly
gigantic size. In the quarries situated in the vicinity shaped stones
-The Tomb of Theocloric in Ravenna
STONES 399
from the second century A. d. have been found; they are about 14 ft.
wide, over 15 ft. in thickness, and no less than 23 yds. in length. Their
weight amounts to nearly 1,000 tons (Figs. 539 and 540).
It would seem almost impossible to explain how such stones were
moved away and raised to their height in the buildings if we did not
Fig. 540. — Shaped Stone in the Quarry of Baalbek
Length 23 yds., -width i.v ft., thickness 15 ft., weight about 1,000 tons.
After a photograph in the Deutsches Museum, Munich
know that at that time the work was performed by vast numbers of
workmen far in excess of those employed in modern industry, in which
the tendency is to replace human labour by machine work. In .some
cases huge blocks of stones of this kind were transsportecl over wide
stretches of land. In Ravenna we still see the grave of Theodoric,
which was probably built about a.d. 520. It is covered by an enormous
cupola no less than 36 ft. in diameter (Fig. 541), made from a single
stone. This stone was not extracted from the vicinity, but was pro-
bably transported from Istria by water. Thus it appears to have
travelled long distances, in spite of its stupendous weight, before it
arrived at its destination, where it again required the labour of many
men, as well as the use of high platform-like structures, to enable it
BUILDING MATERIALS
FXG. 542. — ^'riie great Sea of Stone on the
rocky mount of the Odenwald (gra-nite)
to be drawn up to its present position. Pillars 36 ft. high produced
from one block are to be found in the remains of the avenue of pillars
of Palmyra, and so we find everywhere traces of an antique art of working
stones which was undaunted by the most gigantic tasks.
This art may be traced back to pre-history ; it made use of very
simple tools. Besides being broken up by the insertion of wooden pegs
in holes, as mentioned above, the stones were also split by means of
knives or blades, which in the beginning were made of wood,, bone or
horn. On account of their softness they were not sufficient to cut
... through the stone unaided, since
simply wore flat. For this
Fig. 543. — Granite worked by the Romans
at the 'Pyramid' in the Odenwald
purpose moist sand was strewn between them and the .stone surface that
was to be worked. Later on tools made of bronze were used, and, later
again, tools made of hardened bronze, iron and steel. According to
Flinders Petrie the ancient Egyptians were supposed to have used saw-
blades whose edges were studded with jewels. There is no evidence of
the use of such jewelled saws among the Romans, but there are indica-
tions that in dealing with very hard stone, such as granite, not only sand,
but also steel-sand, that is, a mixture of sand and steel-filings, was strewn
under the teeth of the slightly curved saw-blades.
We find evidence against the use of jewelled saws in the very
narrow incision of half-finished stones that are still found ; they lead
us to conclude that a narrow saw-blade was used. The application of
STONES
401
ordinary sand is also mentioned by Vitruvius (II, 7, i) and Pliny (XXX VI,
51), while the remarks of Vitruvius make it clear that saw-blades without
teeth were used for hard stones, while toothed saws were used for soft
<mes. Bliimner also points out that Pliny mentions the use of sand,
the best variety being supposed to come from Ethiopia. Indian sand,
as well as sand from Naxos and
44. — The ' Altar-stone Front view
Lateral holes for the insertion of wedges
.5. — The Altar-stone. View from above
Saw-cuts and wedge-incisions in granite
Koptos, was too soft and therefore made the cutting much rougher.
The saws were first manipulated by hand, and later saw-mills were
used, which were driven by water-power. The Gallic-Roman poet
j Decimus Magnus Ausonius (a.d.
, f ' 310-396) in his poem ' Mosella
Fig. 546. — Huge block of granite, worked.
In the vast collection of stones in the
Odenwald
547, — ‘ Giant Pillar ’ on tlie stone
mountain in the Odenwald
Roman work in granite
verse 359, sings the praises of the saw-mills situated in the valley of
the Ruiver, in which the stone slabs for the buildings of the Imperial
city of Treves were cut out. ■
T.A.S.' — 26
402 BUILDING MATERIALS
The slopes of the Odenwald, particularly the rocky hill about 1,700 ft,
hig-h, give ns an exceptionally clear insight into the Roman art of working-
stone. They are covered with fragments of rock, from which the Roman
masons procured their building material for the towns of Oppenheim,
Mannheim, Mainz, Treves, Wiesbaden and Aix-la-Chapelle. This
source of stones was later deserted. The more or less completed stone
slabs which we find lying around in these places to-day (Figs. 542-57)
allow us to recognize important details in the ancient Roman method
of working stone. The blocks are to be found in all stages of treatment.
There is, for example, the ‘ Pyramid ’. which was split into three huge
pieces by means of two horizontal rows of holes for the insertion of
wedges. Then there is the ‘ Altar-stone from which two blocks have
already been removed for pillars. From the technical point of view
Fig. 548. — Egyptians worlfing in Stone.
Usins; chisels and a stone, as a hammer. Smoothing with iwlishing stones and so forth
this one is the most interesting of all. Its length varies from 3 to 5
yards, its height is nearly 6 ft. Deep incisions cut with admirable
accuracy by a saw indicate the intention of detaching still more blocks
of 20 to 24 in, thickness. The saw-cuts were supplemented by holes
into which wedges were inserted to split off the desired piece.
In this process the surface of fracture itself assumed a somewhat
curved form which could be used to advantage when greater curvature
was required. The saw-blade used for this purpose must have had a
length of at least 15 ft., and have produced cuts only one-sixth of an
inch wide, that is, not wider than the most modern frame-saw. Many
other granite blocks show signs of having been worked. 'I'he so-called
‘ Giant Pillar ’ (Fig. 547), which lies at the higher end of the great
multitude of stone on the way to the village of Reichenbach, is also very
striking. Its length measures 30 ft., its thickness at the lower end
5 ft. I in., and at the upper, 4 ft. i in. ; the volume is therefore well
over 9 cubic yards and the weight about 15 tons. A second pillar, of
nearly the same dimensions, but less finished, lies a short distance from
B RICKS, ARTIFICIAL STONE AND MATERIALS 403
it. In breaking off the pillars, the procedure consisted in marking the
k'ligth of the pillar by means of deep incisions. Then a half of the pillar
was worked to a state of completion. Along the sides of this half-column
a dee]-) furrow was chiselled in the block and numerous wedge-holes were
made in the furrow. After inserting and saturating the wedges with water
the back part of the pillar broke off, in a convex shape, caused by the
semicircular coui'se of the lines of pressure due to the swollen wedges.
I'liis process was practised by the Egyptians and later by the Romans.
As a rule the Greeks did not make their columns of monoliths but by
.siiperi)osing blocks in the form of discs, a method also applied by the
Romans in some cases (for example, the Juppiter Column in Mainz).
When the blocks had been broken off and prepared in the manner
described, the fine work was begun; that is, they were cut down to the
right size, smoothed off and j)olished by exactly the same methods and
with the same tools as we still use in general nowadays (Fig, 548),
BRICKS, ARTIFICIAL STONE AND ARTIFICIAL
MATERIALS
Bricks used in ancient times were in many cases only dried in the sun
or slightly burned. As a rule only the glazed bricks show signs of having
been more intensively burned. Their colour varies within wide limits
according to the clay used ; almost all shades of colour occur from light
yellow to dark red. All further details about their production are men-
tioned in the section on ' Ceramics The brick of antiquity has either
a square form or the shape of a long rectangle, resembling those we make
nowadays. The size varies greatly. As the art of building in bricks
attained to a high degree of perfection, particularly among the Romans,
great attention was naturally also given to the preparation of the bricks.
Vitruvius (II, 3) describes in detail the properties which a good brick
should have and also the forms in which it is best prepared. Fie points
out that clay used for making bricks should be neither sandy nor stony
nor gritty. It should be capable of being kneaded easily. The best
materials are white chalky clay, red earth, or ‘ male ’, i.e. very firm and
hard, sand. The bricks made from them are light and at the same time
solid. He recommends spring or autumn as the time for making bricks,
for then the drying out takes place slowly and uniformly. Care must be
taken that the outer layer does not dry up while the interior is still wet.
A good brick should dry for two years. If undried bricks are used for
building they contract in the wall and work themselves loose from the
plaster, which falls off. In those days the people of Utica (near Car-
thage) obtained official certification that their bricks had dried out for
five years. Vitruvius knows of other kinds of bricks, of which one
variety, the ‘ Lydian ', was particularly used in Rome. The other two
forms were usual in Greece. Vitruvius further mentions bricks that
float on water, because the earth out of which they were made was a
variety of pumice-stone.
The usual Roman brick is broader and flatter than ours and varies
404 BUILDING MATERIALS
greatly in size. Its dimensions certainly do not keep within the limits
of i8 in. length and I2 in. breadth given by Vitruvius. Most of the
ancient Roman bricks are smaller. They are, however, more durable
than the machine-made bricks of our day ; this is probably due to the
fact that they were, made by hand, and another reason is the dexterity of
the brick-moulder. As a rule Roman bricks carry a stamp, either the
mark of the manufacturer or the number of the legion whose soldiers
had produced the bricks (Fig. 194). As it was necessary to keep the
Roman army occupied in times of peace, in order that idleness would
not lead to revolts and revolutions, soldiers who were not lighting were
made to mould bricks or build roads or perform other works. (Further
details of making bricks are given under the heading * Ceramics ’.)
Bcvsides freestone and bricks the ancients in isolated cases also used
artificial stone and other artificial material. Such stones have been
found in the ruins of ancient Babylon. According to the analysis carried
out by Rathgen they consist of 94 per cent, of quartz and are cemented
together by a mixture of quartz, lime and magnesia into a sort of ' magma '.
A further artificial substance was also known to the ancients which
corresponds to our modern concrete or beton. It was especially used
by the Romans. The basic substance for its production was the poz-
zoiana which occurs at Riteoli ^ in the bay of Naples ; it is a volcanic clay
consisting of clay and gravel, which, with the addition of burnt lime,
could resist the action of water. For building in water, it was custom-
ary to mix two parts by weight of jiozzolana with one part of ordinary >
mortar. The actual building was carried out by a process resembling ■
that in use nowadays ; namely, the l.)eton-mass (to which in some circum- |
stances sand and chips of stone were added) was poured or stamped I
under moulds made of boards and there allowed to harden. Such beton i
was used for making conduit-pipes, parts of aqueducts, harbour works and I
so forth. The concrete or beton was used both in the form of ballast • I
and in the form of hardened blocks which could be joined together. In I
the reign of Caligula a mole was built at Naples from such blocks. |
In the case of vaults made from freestone, concrete was used instead E
of pure mortar as a cement. It was poured into the gaps left in between f
the stones. 1
MORTARS AND CEMENTS 1
The mortars and other cements used in antiquity were of very
tliverse kinds. Herodotus knew of two methods that were used even
by the old Babylonians to hold together stones in buildings. The |
first (11, 186) has already been mentioned several times and represents
the method of forming junctions by means of iron and lead described
in detail on page 386 ; the other (II, 179) consists of hot bitumen, that is,
of asphalt. I'he excavations of Layard at the ruins of Nineveh and
Babylon prove that the stones joined by asphalt have remained fixed
together through thousands of years. This strong connection is due
to the asphalt, having been applied hot to the stones, penetrating into
^ Now called Pozzuoli,
MORTARS AND CEMENTS 405
tlu'in and so j)iovidmg protectiou from weather iullueiices, llie aspliall
used by the Babylonians was derived from the oil-wells on the Is, a
tribiitai-y of tlie Euphrates. The more easily volatile constituents of
the crude petroleum were allowed to vapourize so that the bitumen used
in Babylonian buildings remained as a residue. The use cf asphalt
in Babylonian structures was known to the Romans ; it is described,
for example, by Pliny (XXXV, 178). Vitnivius (VIII, 3, 8) also describes
asphalt and Pliny mentions it in another passage (V, 72). But in spite
of this knowledge the Romans no longer used it as a cement.
On the other hand, it was still used in isolated instances by the Eg57p-
tians, who, how^ever, for the great majority of their buildings, used the
two principal cements of antiquity, gypsum and lime, as well as mixtures
of both. As is clear from the discusiiion of the Egyptian drain-con-
structions (p. 439) a cement was used for fixing in the. drain pipe ; it
consisted of 45-54 per cent, of gypsum and 41-36 per cent, of carbonate
of lime, and contained, besides, 13-10 per cent, of insoluble components,
mostly sharp-edged transparent particles of quartz and particles of
siliceous substances. Lucas, on the basis of his analyses, has raised the
question whether the ancient Egyptians were acquainted with a lime-
cement mixed with sand, or whether they used only gypsum-mortar
which contained lime carbonate as an impurity to varying degrees.
Analyses of the gypsums obtained nowadays in Heiwan favour the second
suggestion, which receives further support from the fact that gypsum
and lime regularly occur together in Egypt.
Other analyses of samples of mortars are available, which were taken
some decades ago by Lepsius from the pyramids of Khofra (Chefren).
Rathgen makes the following statements about these analyses, which he
supplements with deductions of his own.
‘ Mortar from the pyramid of Khofra, index No. 1334. Gypsum mortar con-
taining little lime, pieces of crystalline gypsum often i cm. long, and a few quartz
particles mostly rounded off,
‘ Mortar from the pyramid of Khofra, index No. 1334. Lime mortar with many
pieces of limestone and with very few .sharp-edged particles of quartz and isolated
fragments of crystalline gypsum.
‘ Mortar from the pyramid of Khofra, index No. 1342. Mixture of gypsum- and
lime-mortar with pieces of crystalline gypsum and small amounts of particles of
limestone and of quartz, mostly rounded off. The composition of this mortar from
the pyramid of Khofra is quite similar to that of the mortar from the drain of the
mortuary temple of Sahura (see page 440) and of the mortar from the Sphinx ’ (se*e
page 346).
In the light of all this we may say that the Ancient Egyptians in
general used gypsum as a mortar, of which the content of lime carbonate,
when derived from quicklime, was mostly accidental, but that the use
of gypsum containing lime may have caused them often to add further
lime purposely to the gypsum before burning, and that under certain
circumstances they even burned limestone alone. As a thinning agent
they used small fragments of imburned gypsum and pieces of limestone,
mostly probably in the form of grit from their workshops, which explains
the small and varying amount of insoluble matter contained in the mortar.
BUILDING MATERIALS
The composUion ol Greek mortars is also known to us from analyses
which show us tliat liuie-mortars were chiefly used. For example, the
stones of the orators’ tribune built about 400 b.c. on the Pnyx, the
meeting-place of the Athenian Assembly, were cemented together with a
lime-mortar to which sand had been added. According to analysis this
lime- mpflar consisted of :
cent, burnt lime,
"7 P® acid,
12-0 per cenff^Sii^^,
and confined eidmixtures of magne^lSi^luminiiim acetate and iron
oxide which came from the lime and sand *^d. In the course of time
the sand content of the mortar continually m^ased (see, for example,
the prescriptions of Vitruvius below). Partifetflarly noteworthy are
Rathgen’s researches on mortar from ancient Perg®qon ; this incident-
ally proves that the mortar is about 1,700 years old?V3|Le peculiarity
of this mortar is that as a thinning agency for the. lime thm^^^s added,
besides the usual substances so used, that is, sand and gravel, ms^kshells
of mussels, a species of miirex. As these shells also consisted of lime, the
question naturally arises whether the basic substance of the mortar, theA
burnt lime, was not also obtained by burning these shells, or whether it \
was obtained in the usual way by burning lime. Since the shells also \
contained phosphoric acid, only its presence in the mortar could prove 1
the assumption that shells were used. Analysis disclosed that the mortar
contained some phosphoric acid, but to a .somewhat higher percentage
than the shells. This exce.ss of pho.sphoric acid can be explained only
by assuming that it is derived from the bodies of living mussels. From
these results we may therefore infer that the lime for making the Per-
gamene mortar was obtained by collecting and burning the shells of
mussels, among them being some which still contained the living or dead .
bodies. To the burnt lime there were added as thinning agents, besides .
sand and gravel, further shells from shell-fish which again partly con-
tained the animal bodies. The phosphoric acid contained in these bodies
then likewise became mixed with the mortar so that its percentage of phos-
phoric acid was greater than that of the shells used in its production.
Roman mortars were similarly lime-mortars in the main. Concern-
ing their production Vitruvius (II, 51) states thad good lime should be
made by burning white building-stone or flint. That made from dense
and hard .stone was advantageous for the brickwork, that made from
porous stone was better for the outer coating or plaster. The mixture
of lime with sand was to be in the ratio of three parts of sand to one of
lime in the case of pit-sand, whereas in that of river- or sea-sand a third
part of powdered and sifted shells was to be added, and the proportion of
sand and lime to be as two to one.
'I'he burning of the lime took place in limekilns, which, according
to Cato {de agri cult. XXXVTII, i), were to be underground in pits
specially dug, to exclude the wind. If the hollow' could not be made
deep enough (the kiln was to be 20 (Roman) ft. high, 10 ft. wdde at the
bottom, and. 3 ft. at the top ; i Roman foot =--- ii|. in.), a border of bricks
MORTARS AND CEMENTS 407
or ashlar was placed on top, which was pointed with ciay. One
or two iirc-holes could be made. We are here again dealing with a
type of oven still extant in distant regions which once stood under Roman
rule or in neighbouring parts. They have remained preserved in a
Fig, 551
Figs. 549-551.— Lime-kiln in the Val di Gardena (Fig. 549, from the front; Fig. 550,
from the side; Fig. 551, from above)
The limekiln (see Fig. 551), built into the foot of a hill, consists of rough stones arranged in layers to a small height.
It is filled with wood or wood-charcoal, and then ignited. Flames come out at the top. After being fired, the burnt
lime is removed through the front aperture
particularly typical form, for example, in the Val di Gardena, where we
encounter besides the language many other relics of ancient Roman
civilization (Figs. 549-551).
The slaking of the lime, that is, the mixing of the mortar, took place
in special pits with the help of a kind of rake {ascia) which resembled
40.S BUILDING MATERIALS
that still used nowadays. To apply it a trowel was used, likewise
resembling the modern form. (See the Figs, on pp. 395 and 396).
Besides lime-mortar the Romans also used hydraulic mortars or
cements, that is, mortars that harden under winter. Their most import-
ant hydraulic mortar was the pozzolana, already mentioned above
(p. 404). But they were also acquainted with Babylonian cement from
the idain stretching out west of the Euphrates ; the Babylonians had
early used this cement with an admixture of ashes for building their
wells. But in other parts of the world, too, builders had an expert eye
for discerning the kinds of stone from which hydraulic mortar could be
produced. Stone of this sort they found, for example, in the trasses of
the Kifel, the Moselle, the Nette and the Brohl valleys, as well as in the
Kies district near Nordlingen. The trasses of the Eifel played an
I important part in the magnificent waterworks of Cologne built in the
I reigns of the (miperors Trajan (A.d. 98-117) and Hadrian (a.d. 117-138) ;
f they ended where the Cologne Cathedral now stands, and served to
supply various Roman fortifications with water besides Cologne (Co/rnwa
Agrippinends), The mortar of this Roman canal is of a wonderful
liardness and rigidity. As proved by blasting operations it is even harder
than the natural rock. This rigidity has given rise to all sorts of foolish
ideas, such as, for example, that the Romans had special secrets about
making mortar, and that they used white sugar, wine, common salt and
like substances as additional ingredients ! Recently, numerous analyses
of the mortar from the Eifel canal of the l-iomanshave been carried out by \
the Prussian Testing Department for Materuds {Materialprufungsamt), by \
Liittgen, Hambloch, Kiepenheuer, and others. 'Phe trass was prepared I
for the production of mortar by simply grinding the tufa from the Eifel. J'
At other points of the long aqueduct, which were too far for trans-
, porting the trass, a calcareous marl was used for preparing the hydraulic
I mortar ; this marl contained silicon dioxide and argillaceous earth as
^ water-resisting constituents, which entered into combination with lime-
stone, forming a compound which, like the trass, hardened in water.
'I'he hydraulic mortar obtained from lime-marl, the so-called ' water-
lime of the Eifel ', was produced by mixing one part of this water-lime
with 3 to 4^ parts of coarse sand. The red outer coating consists of water-
lime from the Eifel with brick-dust and fragments of brick admixed.
> It was applied to a thickness varying from A to n, of an inch.
I In general tlie Romans seem not to have used gypsum as a mortar.
WATER-SUPPLY
L ike the animals, so also Man had once upon a time to set out in
quest of water to satisfy his thirst. Streams, lakes and springs
were at his disposal. They have the common failing, however, of
drying up at times. This gave rise to the mOvSt primitive method of water-
supply, scraping to reach the precious moisture that had filtered away.
Haberlandt has proved that the digging up of sand represents a
method still practised nowadays by the aboriginals of Australia for
obtaining water artificially. By a development of these ‘ soakages ’ in
the sub-soil of dried-up beds of rivers the wells dug out of sand or soft
stone arose. In soil particularly poor in its water-content there is a
further technical development, according to Haberlandt \s researches in
Australia ; it is the suction-tube, which, however, occurs here in a very
simple form : a hole is made by driving a spear deep into the ground, a
chimp of dried grass is inserted into the hole to serve as a protective
covering, through the middle of which a hollow^ reed is thrust ; the
water is then sucked up through this reed. As Haberlandt has proved
that similar devices are in use among the Hottentots and the Bushmen
of South Africa, and also among the inhabitants of Tierra del Fuego,
and since according to a generally accepted theory the stages of develop-
ment of mankind in its first beginnings resemble those of the present-day
primitive races, we may also assume that in the case of water-supply, soak-
holes were followed by wells, and that suction-pipes w^ere a still later
development.
WATER-SUPPLY IN THE EAST
In proportion as settlement increased the demands for improved
methods of water-supply became more pressing. The importance
of water was recognized and efforts were made to conduct it to settle-
ments by means of special constructions in cases where great natural
sources were not at hand. So the first aqueducts arose, which consisted
of artificially constructed trenches, more or less inclined ; these were
at first uncovered at the top and conducted the water to the desired spot.
Water was then simply scooped out as required. To facilitate this,
special basins were made in the watercourse.
An ancient aqueduct of this kind, consisting of a trench with scooping
basins, was discovered by Layard in his researches in ancient Ass5n'ia ;
it is situated in a gorge at Bavian. Layard writes : ' Higher up in
the gorge I also had the earth removed and I found a row of water-
basins hewn out of the rock, which led in steps down to the river.
409
410 WATER-SUPPLY
The water had originally been conducted from one basin to the next
by little gutters; at the mouth of the lowest basin two lions rampant
in relief had been erected as ornaments (Fig. 552). We cleaned out
the choked gutters, poured water into the uppermost basin, and so
restored the water-service to what it had been in the time of the Ass}/-
rians.’ Water was also supplied to Nineveh by means of open canals,
whicli lirst collected the water from many places, and then conducted
it to the town, where they again branched off along the different streets.
A])parently no indisputable relics of this constniction have been e.stab-
lished, but an inscription concerning
them which is contained in one of
the rock-pictures at Bavian, and has
been translated by Hincks, gives us
some information about them. It
states that these waterworks were
constructed by Sennacherib, that is,
about the turn of the eighth and
seventh centuries b. c, ‘ From eighteen
districts or villages’, it says, ‘he led
eighteen canals to the Ussur or
Khusur, in which he collected their
water. He also dug a canal from the
boundaries of the town or of the
divStrict of Kisri as far as Nineveh,
conducted the water through it and
called it the canal of Sennacherib.’ We frequently find similar con-
structions in the ancient East. How extensive these trench-systems were
commonly made is related by Herodotus ( 11 , 188 et seq), who says that
Cyrus, during his march to Babylon, had three hundred and sixty trenches
dug out leading from the River Gyndes, in order, so it is alleged, to revenge
himself on this stream which had swept away his horse. The rest of
Herodotus’ description, however, makes it clear that Cyrus was o]ily
waiting for the more favourable season in order to advance on Babylon
and that he probably had a water-system constructed there for his army,
which was encamped in that neighbourhood for nearly a year, according
to the same account. Further, an old relief in the British Museum
derived from the Palace of Kujundschik^ shows us how the water is distri-
buted through these, trenches. It appears that this water-system served
to supply the needs of the palace, and after its passage was used
to water the gardens. The side-canals branch off at a fairly acute angle
from the main canal.
The trenches were not always dug out of the ground but were also
cut out of rock, as, for example, in the case of the River Zab and its
tributary Ghazit. The canal is 28 miles long and 44 ft. deep in places,
and has been hewn out of hard shell-limestone. Sometimes channels
were built up with masonry. One of these is to be found at Damascus.
It cannot, however, be stated with certainty that it belongs to antiquity.
In view of the high degree of perfection attained in ceramics in Mesopo-
^Also wx'itten Kuyunyik.
Fig. 552. -- Lowest Water-bnsin of the
ancient Assyrian aqueduct in the gorj'c
at Bavian
WA'l'ER-SUPPLY IN THE EAS'F 411
tainia (see the section on Ceramics) it is rather surprising that clay-
]upes have not been found more often as water-pipes. But , as pcjinted <jut
l)y Merckel, in ivsolated instances, for example, at Senjiiii, such tubes
hav(‘ been found having a length of 12 in., diameter of 4^ in., and
a wall in. thick. On tlie one side they had a rabbet, on the other a
cusp 2 in. long which had been thrust i 
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